Social Determinants of Health

Background: Low Birth Weight (LBW) is one of the most important health indicators in the world. It has certain known and unknown causes. The present study was designed to evaluate the role of socio-behavioral factors on neonatal birth weight.

Methods: The current case-control study was conducted on 300 eligible neonates (150 LBW infants as cases and 150 normal body weight infants as controls) in 2015. The national pregnancy care forms of the neonates kept in heath care centers in Kerman were used. The data was analyzed running Independent samples t-test, Chi square test, and Fisher’s Exact test in SPSS. The significance level was set as 0.05.

Results: Preterm birth (P<0.001), number of primary care during pregnancy (P=0.001), mother’s age (P=0.049), consumption of supplements during pregnancy (P=0.03), and history of substance abuse in mothers (P=0.03) were found to have significant roles in having LBW neonate.

Conclusion: Identifying the sociobehavioral risk factors of Preterm labor and modifying them to prevent preterm birth are essential approaches to prevent LBW. Governments should pay special attention to nutritional status of teenage and young girls to have healthy mothers and babies in the future. Women of childbearing age should be screened and educated about risky behaviors. Pregnancy care and support should be delivered to all pregnant women according to the standard methods.

  Background: The present study was conducted to investigate the Family Power Structure (FPS) and identity style in delinquent and non-delinquent juveniles in Tehran.

  Methods: To accomplish the goal of the study, 80 adolescent delinquents of the Correction and Rehabilitation Centers, aged between 15 and 18, were selected following cluster sampling procedure as well as 80 students of secondary school, aged between 15 and 18, in Tehran in 2014. To obtain data, FPS (Saidian, 2004) and Identity Style Inventory (ISI-6G: White et al, 1998) instruments were used. Data was analyzed between these two groups using independent t test, and Chi square test.

  Results: The findings indicated that there is a significant difference between delinquent and non-delinquent juveniles in FPS and its subscales (P<0.001) and identity style (P<0.001). Moreover, the informational identity style was related to lower levels of delinquency. In addition, a diffuse-evident identity style was found to be related to the delinquency.

  Conclusion: These findings emphasize that an inappropriate decision-making process pattern in a family has a significant effect on deviant behavior and identity style in adolescents. So, family counselors must pay attention to FPS in the therapeutic interventions (prevention and treatment) for adolescent delinquency.

Background: Cancer is the third most common cause of death in Iran. Colorectal cancer is an ideal tumor for screening. Therefore, early diagnosis through screening can reduce its prevalence and mortality. On the other hand, knowledge of practitioners about screening programs has a direct relationship with their performance.

Methods: In the present cross-sectional-educational study, knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical interns and practitioners about colorectal cancer screening were evaluated in 2014-2015 and were reviewed using Chi2 and ANOVA statistical tests.

Results: From among 300 physicians surveyed, 17.3% knew the age of the screening for colorectal cancer, 73% knew the average-risk, and 68% knew the high-risk criteria correctly. About 48% of the respondents recommended Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) method for population at medium risk and 75% of recommended colonoscopy as a screening method in highrisk populations. Also, 90% of physicians knew the signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer. About half of the practitioners asked their patients about risk factors and advised them to undergo screening. About 55% of the participants who had family members needing screening decided to undergo screening and 6.3% of them who needed screening, decided to undergo screening.

Conclusion: Colorectal cancer is growing in the country; a fact that can be prevented. The results of the present study showed that practitioners have little knowledge of appropriate age of screening and screening methods and insufficient attitudes and actions about this issue. It is recommended that general practitioners and family physicians, who are the first lines of encounter with the patients, be properly trained.

Keywords: Knowledge; Attitude; Performance; Colorectal cancer; Medical students

Background: The novelty of the present study was to interpret the relation of the videogame usage in teenagers’ behaviors and their performance in schools and distinctive environments.

Methods: A total of 508 male and female teenage students were randomly selected from secondary schools of Tehran, the Capital of Iran. The designed questionnaire was completed by student’s parents at the end of school year. School performance and students’ behavior and pattern of using videogames were asked. Descriptive statistics, Contingency coefficient and chi-squared tests were used for data analysis.

Results: According to the results, almost all the teenagers were interested in video games and 76.8% of students played video games once in a while. Female students whose mothers were older used video games more often than teenagers whose mothers were younger. Also, male students, whose mothers were housewives and had handheld devices in their rooms, were observed to spend more time playing games. The male students who spent more time playing video games showed more aggression than the others. In addition, female students who played video games quite often, showed abnormal behavior and strange mental status. Both genders showed high percentage of shouting and overeating, when they spent more time playing video games. Conclusion: Playing videogames has a significant effect on teenagers’ behaviors but not on their school performance. Social determinants of health also have significant effect on playing videogames.

Keywords: Adolescent; Educational Status; Students; Video Games

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Mothers’ health and life is constantly exposed to different risks such as the risk of accidents, injuries and poisoning, so some of mothers may lose their health and lives which is understood as social damage. Various studies have found that in vulnerable groups of the society, women at the age of childbearing are the most susceptible group to deliberate suicidal poisoning