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Since the (Covid-19) pandemic outbreak, questioning regarding climate and incident of Covid-19 infection rates has been debated, while there is no clear research evidence until now in Iran. This study has focused on investigating the association between Covid-19 cases and demographic -meteorological factors in arid and semi-arid zones of Iran (from March 1, 2020, to January 31, 2022) by analyzing with Via Poisson and negative binomial regression. As a result, the incidence rate of both Covid-19 hospitalization and mortality cases reached peaks in the summer followed by the autumn. Interestingly, Covid-19 hospitalization cases are associated with humidity, temperature, and wind factors seasonally and monthly, but mortality cases are just associated with wind. In conclusion, the result demonstrated that demographicand meteorological factorsare positively and negatively associated with Covid-19 cases. Therefore, identifying the environmental factors contributing to the excess Covid-19 can help to prevent future pandemic waves in Iranian arid and semi-arid zone.

Lifestyle is different in arid and semi-arid zones. However, where people are born and live have a lasting influence on their social and environmental exposure. This review focuses on the, various dimensions of environmental health imbalance inequality especially in significant environmental sources such as (ie, air, water, soil) among provinces that creates a big health gap in the center, East and the Southeast of Iran. Thus, the population of the arid and semi-arid zones of Iran is facing respiratory, cardiovascular, cancer and infection diseases linked to environmental problems such as chemical and microbial pollution due to air pollution and unsafe water sources, respectively. The prevalence of certain types of cancer such as skin, stomach, bladder, prostate and colorectal cancer together with some respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in arid and semiarid zones such as Kerman, Yazd, etc., has been reported in comparison with other provinces frequently. These impacts have effects on multiple levels of health security in those zones. Based on these concerns, we propose key questions that should guide research in the context of the socio environmental science to support science-based management actions in Iran and other similar semi-arid areas worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Objective: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease and a major global health-related issue. Knowledge, attitude and behaviours associated with this disease are being developed. Infected animals and consumption of contaminated foods are probably the main sources of this viral infection. Adhering to a healthy diet is effective in preventing patient affliction and recovery. Thus, the present research aims to determine the nutritional knowledge, attitude and behaviours associated with COVID-19 among Residents of Gonabad, Iran., Design: The present online cross-sectional survey was conducted in March 2020 on 389 people selected through convenient sampling method. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire developed by the present researchers comprising four sections: demographic information, knowledge, attitude and nutritional behaviour. The collected data were analysed statistically in SPSS., Setting: Gonabad city in Khorasan Razavi in the Northeast of Iran., Participants: All people at or above 18 years of age., Results: The present results revealed that the mean age of the participants was 37·3 ± 11·3 years. The mean scores for knowledge, attitude and nutritional behaviour were, respectively, 9·7 ± 1·4, 14·3 ± 3·5 and 29·6 ± 4·2. The mean scores for nutritional knowledge and attitude showed no statistically significant correlation with age, education, occupation, marital status and economic status. However, the mean nutritional behaviour score was significantly higher among women than men (P = 0·004)., Conclusions: Participants' nutritional attitude and behaviour regarding COVID-19, at its early stage in Iran, were average and above average. The public education provided with this regard can have affected this result.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is a global health problem. It is necessary to provide evidence on its unprecedented psychological effects to develop effective psychological interventions. The current study aims to determine the anxiety severity level, coping strategies, and influencing factors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic among people aged 15 years and above in Gonabad, Iran., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey via online questionnaires between February and March 2020. We evaluated the anxiety severity levels and coping strategies using the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Short Form (CISS-SF), respectively. Multinomial and ordinal logistic regression models were used to identify the predictors of coping strategies and anxiety., Results: Totally, 500 people completed the questionnaires (response rate: 73%). Of them, 53.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 48.9%- 57.8%) suffered moderate to severe levels of anxiety. More than half of the respondents (52.0%; 95% CI: 47.5%-56.4%) utilized emotional-based or avoidant coping strategies. People with no academic education (odds ratio [OR]: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.41- 3.31) and without physical exercise (OR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.22-3.33) preferred emotional-based coping instead of problem-based coping strategy. Female gender (OR: 1.60, 95%, CI: 1.13-2.28), underlying medical conditions (OR: 2.52, 95% CI: 1.65-3.87), and emotional-based coping (OR: 4.06, 95% CI: 2.76-5.99) were associated with higher severity levels of anxiety., Conclusion: The severity of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic was significant among participants. Further attention is needed to enhance the mental health of the vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings also identified some factors related to the severity level of anxiety related to COVID-19 that could help formulate better psychological interventions., (© 2020 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.)

Purpose: To determine the effect of a supportive educational intervention based on the Orem self-care model on women with type 2 diabetes and diabetic peripheral neuropathy., Design: A randomized controlled trial., Setting: Hospital outpatient diabetes clinic., Subjects: Adult women with type 2 diabetes and mild-to-moderate diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Out of 410 patients, 120 diabetic patients were recruited and randomly assigned to trial group ( N  = 60) and control group ( N  = 60)., Intervention: The trial group received a designed intervention consist of one-month supportive educational program with three months of follow-up (totally four months), based on self-care requisites according to the Orem self-care regarding diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The control group only received a routine care program in the diabetes clinic., Main Measurements: The main outcomes were symptoms and severity of diabetic neuropathy. Further outcomes were fasting blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin., Results: By the end of the intervention, the number of participants reduced from 60 to 58 in the trial group and to 57 in the control group (totally 115). The intervention significantly decreased mean score of diabetic neuropathy symptoms (trial group: 3.26 vs. control group: 9.57, P  = 0.001), severity (trial group: 5.86 vs. control group: 9.02, P  = 0.001), fasting blood sugar (trial group: 151 vs. control group: 204, P  = 0.001), and glycosylated hemoglobin (trial group: 7.85 vs. control group: 8.62, P  = 0.004)., Conclusion: Delivering a supportive-educational intervention based on the Orem self-care model on outpatient diabetes clinic can decrease the symptoms and severity of diabetic peripheral neuropathy., Trial Registration: It was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT2015021521095N1).

Introduction: Learning procedural skills is one of the essential aspects of undergraduate medical education. However, learning procedural skills in clinical settings is less widely considered. This study aimed to explore the Iranian undergraduate medical students' perception of learning procedural skills and its outcomes in three universities of medical sciences in Iran., Methods: A descriptive exploratory qualitative methodology with an in-depth unstructured, face-to-face interview, and content analysis was used in this study. Sixteen students in clinical phases of general medical education programs from educational hospitals were selected using purposive sampling. According to the preferences of the participants, the interviews were conducted in medical schools or in hospitals., Results: The students participating in this study included 7 females and 9 males (totally 16 people) with a mean age of 23.7 years old with a range of 21-27 years. The three main themes of this study were "the gap of transferring formal teaching from skill lab to clinical placement", "learning self-leading procedural skills in clinical settings", and "students' dissatisfaction with patients' vulnerability" with 8 subthemes which were extracted and explained based on the students' perception., Conclusion: Unsupervised and self-learning by medical students and weakness in controlling the learning process have undesirable results for patients and students., (Copyright: © Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.)

Background: Child abuse is a kind of domestic violence of children under the age of 18 which potentially or actually damages all aspects of their health. This study was conducted to determine the effect of education based on growth and development with home-visiting follow up on the mothers' attitude and child abuse with 3-6-year-old children., Methods: This controlled trial study was carried out in two rural community health centers in Khorasan Razavi province in Iran, during April 2016 to Jun 2017 on 64 abusive mothers of 3-6-year-old children. The data collection tools included the 32-item adult adolescent parenting inventory (AAPI) and the questionnaire of child abuse. By using multi-stage random sampling, the mothers referring to two health centers were assigned to the experimental (N=32) and control groups (N=32). The intervention group received parenting educational interventions based on child growth and development and after being followed up for eight weeks through home-visits. The data were analyzed in SPSS-16, using descriptive statistics, analytical tests including the Chi-square, independent t-test, and Mc Nemars test., Results: After the intervention, the overall score of parenting attitudes was found to be significantly increased (P<0.001), and the prevalence of most abusive behaviors towards children was significantly reduced (P<0.05) in the intervention group compared to the control group., Conclusion: According to the results, this educational program was found to be significantly more effective in improving parenting attitudes and preventing child abuse compared to routine childcare programs in health centers. Trial Registration Number: IRCT2016052628094N1.

Melasma disfigures the skin and thus influences people's self-image and self-concept. Therefore, melasma influences emotional and psychosocial health in addition to physical health. This clinical trial was performed to assess the effect of the topical use of Petroselinum crispum (parsley) on reduction of the severity of epidermal melasma.

Breast engorgement affects lactation. The present study was conducted to determine the effect of hollyhock combined with warm and cold compresses on improving breast engorgement in lactating women. Participants included 40 women with breast engorgement divided into intervention and control groups, with participants in both groups being applied routine interventions and warm compress before nursing and a cold compress after nursing; however, the intervention group was also applied hollyhock compress. Both groups received these treatments 6 times during 2 days. The data collected were analyzed in SPSS-16 using a generalized estimating equation. According to the results, a significant difference was observed in the overall breast engorgement severity in the intervention group (P < .001). The severity of breast engorgement was also found to have a significant relationship with time (P < .001). According to the findings, hollyhock leaf compress combined with performing routine interventions for breast engorgement can improve breast engorgement., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Introduction: Leadership and management are two expected features and competencies for general practitioners (GPs). The purpose of this study was leadership and management curriculum planning for GPs which was performed based on Kern's curriculum planning cycle., Methods: This study was conducted in 2011- 2012 in Iran using an explanatory mixed-methods approach. It was conducted through an initial qualitative phase using two focus group discussions and 28 semi-structured interviews with key informants to capture their experiences and viewpoints about the necessity of management courses for undergraduate medical students, goals, objectives, and educational strategies according to Kern's curriculum planning cycle. The data was used to develop a questionnaire to be used in a quantitative written survey. Results of these two phases and that of the review of medical curriculum in other countries and management curriculum of other medical disciplines in Iran were used in management and leadership curriculum planning. In the qualitative phase, purposeful sampling and content analysis with constant comparison based on Strauss and Corbin's method were used; descriptive and analytic tests were used for quantitative data by SPSS version 14., Results: In the qualitatively stage of  this research, 6 main categories including the necessity of management course, features and objectives of management curriculum, proper educational setting, educational methods and strategies, evolutionary method and feedback result were determined. In the quantitatively stage of the research, from the viewpoints of 51.6% of 126 units of research who filled out the questionnaire, ranked high necessary of management courses. The coordination of care and clinical leadership was determined as the most important role for GPs with a mean of 6.2 from sample viewpoint. Also, team working and group dynamics had the first priority related to the principles and basics of management with a mean of 3.59. Other results were shown in the paper., Conclusion: Results of this study indicated the need to provide educational programs for GPs; it led to a systematic curriculum theory and clinical management using Kern cycle for general practitioner's discipline. Implementation and evaluation of this program is recommended.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of laryngeal mask airway, endotracheal tube and oropharyngeal airway for airway management in prehospital emergency care., Methods: The study sample of this randomized clinical trial was 54 patients needing pre-hospital airway management. All cases of intubation (ETI); after two failed attempts (37 patients), were randomly assigned to the oropharyngeal airway (OPA), and the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) groups. Patients' hemodynamic, SaO2 and airway management parameters, were compared in three groups. The study data were analyzed by the Chi-square and one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc, using SPSS, v. 18.0., Results: The results demonstrated that before and after the study, there was no significant difference among the study groups in terms of hemodynamic variables (P > 0.05) expect SaO2 (P < 0.001). The results also revealed that in the ETI group (n=17), the number of attempts and the time spent on inserting the airway device was significantly more than other two groups (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Laryngeal mask airway is as effective as oropharyngial airway for pre-hospital airway management by paramedics.

Background: Despite the benefits of the objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) and it appropriateness for evaluating clinical abilities of nursing students , few studies are available on the application of this method in nursing education., Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of using OSATS and traditional methods on the students' learning. We also aimed to signify students' views about these two methods and their views about the scores they received in these methods in a medical emergency course., Patients and Methods: A quasi-experimental study was performed on 45 first semester students in nursing and medical emergencies passing a course on fundamentals of practice. The students were selected by a census method and evaluated by both the OSATS and traditional methods. Data collection was performed using checklists prepared based on the 'text book of nursing procedures checklists' published by Iranian nursing organization and a questionnaire containing learning rate and students' estimation of their received scores. Descriptive statistics as well as paired t-test and independent samples t-test were used in data analysis., Results: The mean of students' score in OSATS was significantly higher than their mean score in traditional method (P = 0.01). Moreover, the mean of self-evaluation score after the traditional method was relatively the same as the score the students received in the exam. However, the mean of self-evaluation score after the OSATS was relatively lower than the scores the students received in the OSATS exam. Most students believed that OSATS can evaluate a wide range of students' knowledge and skills compared to traditional method., Conclusions: Results of this study indicated the better effect of OSATS on learning and its relative superiority in precise assessment of clinical skills compared with the traditional evaluation method. Therefore, we recommend using this method in evaluation of students in practical courses.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a supportive educational intervention developed based on the Orem's self-care theory on the self-care ability of patients with myocardial infarction., Background: Patients with cardiovascular disease suffer from the lack of knowledge about the disease and consequently are not able to fulfil their own self-care needs., Design: This was a randomised controlled trial conducted in 2012., Methods: We recruited a random sample of 66 patients with myocardial infarction who had been recently discharged from coronary care unit. The study setting was two university hospitals located in Khorasan, Iran. Patients were randomly allocated to either the experimental or the control groups. Patients in the experimental group received education, support, and counselling while patients in the control group received no intervention. We employed a demographic questionnaire and the Myocardial Infarction Self-Care Ability Questionnaire for data collection and spss version 16.00 for data analysis., Findings: After the study, patients in the experimental group had higher levels of self-care knowledge, motivation and skills compared to the prestudy readings and the control group., Conclusion: The supportive educational intervention developed based on the Orem's self-care theory can improve nonhospitalised patients' self-care ability and positively affect public health outcomes. Consequently, using the developed programme for providing follow-up care to nonhospitalised patients is recommended., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Having the ability to develop caring systems based on the nursing theories is a prerequisite to standard nursing practice. Identifying patients' educational needs is a fundamental prerequisite to patient education. Our findings revealed that the supportive educational intervention developed based on the Orem's self-care theory can help health care providers identify and fulfil patients' self-care needs., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Sleep is an important aspect of healthy lifestyle. One of the prevalent Diabetes mellitus-related non-vascular complications is sleep problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a non-pharmacological care plan designed based on the Continuous Care Model (CCM) on sleep quality in patients with type II diabetes with two month follow up., Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted from May to November 2012 among 68 the patients with type II DM referring to the Diabetes Clinic of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. The study instrument consisted of a self-report demographic questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The gathered data were analyzed via SPSS (V. 20) using t-test and Chi-square statistics., Results: After the intervention, the study groups did not differ significantly in terms of sleep quality (0.628). However, the study findings revealed that the interventional group's sleep quality improved significantly after the intervention (P<0.001)., Conclusion: Non-pharmacologic intervention according to CCM improved the sleep quality in the experimental group. Sleep care is a matter of great importance in diabetes mellitus, which deserves particular attention. The present study adds to the growing literature of the use of non-pharmaceutics intervention to improve sleep disorders of diabetic patients., Trial Registration Number: IRCT201202269140N1.

Background: Loneliness is one of the most significant problems during aging. This research has been done to determine the effect of a multi-strategy program based on Pender's Health Promotion model to prevent loneliness of elderly women by improving social relationships., Methods: In this quasi-experimental study done in 2013 from January to November, 150 old women suffering medium loneliness referred to Gonabad urban Health Centers were enrolled. Data were gathered using Russell's UCLA loneliness questionnaire and the questionnaires based on Pender's Health Promotion Model about loneliness. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square, T-pair, and independent-T tests through SPSS, version 20., Results: Loneliness decreased significantly in the interventional group compared to the control group (P<0.00). In addition, mean scores related to variables of Health Promotion Model (received benefits and barriers, self-efficacy, interpersonal effectives of loneliness) in both groups were significantly different before and after the study (P<0.05)., Conclusion: Constructs of Pender's Health Promotion Model can be used as a framework for planning interventions in order to anticipate, improve and modify related behaviors related to loneliness in old women.

Introduction: High quality of care is one of the requirements of nursing which depends on the nursing competency. In this connection, the aim of this research was to determine the problems related to the academic training (nursing' educational program) and clinical practice to achieve competency from the viewpoint of nurses, faculty members, and nursing students., Methods: the study was an analytical cross-sectional one. The sample consisted of the academic staff, the third and the fourth year nursing students and nurses in practice. The instrument of the study was a two-part researcher-made questionnaire with 22 questions in the theoretical- clinical realm to assess  problems related to the theoretical and clinical teaching in nursing, and 23 questions to assess the clinical functions. The questionnaire was validated in terms of both face and content validity. Its reliability, using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, was 0.72 in the theoretical-clinical and 0.73 in the clinical realm. Both descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the data, using SPSS software., Results: The results of this study indicated that from the participants' viewpoints, the most important problems in the academic education for nursea to acquire competency were as follows: lack of academic research the clinical period (88.9%), no application of theoretical aspects of the nursing process in practice (85.6%), insufficient knowledgeable and professional educators (81.1%), the use of traditional routine-oriented methods on the wards (75.6%); also insufficient time for performance based on knowledge in relation to  the nurse's workload (86.5%), weakness and usefulness of scientific function encouragement systems in clinic (85.2%), and learnt theoretical subjects not coming into practice in clinical fields after graduation (75.6%)., Conclusion: Efforts to reduce the gap between the theoretical and practical (clinical function) knowledge in educational and work environment are required to improve the training of qualified nurses.

Background: The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is rising in industrial and developing countries. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the most common cardiovascular disease. Thus, understanding the signs and risk factors of CAD from the patients' perspective and their ways of dealing with this disease is of vital importance., Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to explore the Iranian patients' viewpoints about CAD and how they dealt with it in their first encounter., Patients and Methods: This study was a qualitative content analysis conducted on 18 patients with CAD. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Initially, purposeful sampling was performed followed by maximum variety. Sampling continued until data saturation. Then, all the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. After all, the data were analyzed by constant comparative analysis using MAXQUDA2010 software., Results: The themes manifested in this study included "invasion of disease" with subthemes of "warning signs" and "risk factors" and "confrontation strategies" with subthemes of "seeking for information", "follow-up", and "control measures"., Conclusions: The results of this study described the patients' perceptions of CAD and how they dealt with this disorder in early encountering. Based on the results, physicians and nurses should focus on empowerment of patients by facilitating this process as well as by educating them with regards to dealing with CAD.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death around the world. The coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common diseases in this category, which can be the trigger to various psychosocial complications. We believe that inadequate attention has been paid to this issue., Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to explore the psychosocial complications of CAD from the Iranian patients' perspective., Patients and Methods: A qualitative design based on the content analysis approach was used to collect the data and analyze the perspective of 18 Iranian patients suffered from CAD, chosen by a purposeful sampling strategy. Semi-structured interviews were held in order to collect the data. Sampling was continued until the data saturation. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis approach by MAXQUDA 2010 software., Results: This study revealed the theme of the patients' challenges with CAD. This theme consisted of: "primary challenges," including doubting early diagnosis and treatment, and feeling being different from others; "psychological issues," including preoccupation, fear of death and surgical intervention, recurrence stress , anxiety and depression; "problems of life," including financial problems, work-related problems, and family-related problems; and "sociocultural issues," including change in perspective of people towards the patient, and cultural issues., Conclusions: Although the management of physical problems in patients with CAD is important, psychosocial effects of this disease is more important. Thus, health care personnel should pay ample attention to identify and resolve psychosocial problems of these patients. Results of this study can be used to empower these patients.

Background: Self-esteem is one of the basic needs for all individuals especially in adolescence. The aim of this study was to determine associations between adolescents' self-esteem and perceived maternal parenting styles as well as its dimensions in terms of family type., Methods: In this analytic cross-sectional study, 356 high school students (250 two-parent nuclear family and 106 single-parent family) participated and filled out the Coppersmith self-esteem and the Robinson and colleagues (2001) perceived parenting styles questionnaires. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 18. To assess the relationship between participants' self-esteem and parenting styles and dimensions, Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square test was used to adjust the effect of potential confounder variables. P≤0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: From a total of 370 questionnaires, 356 questionnaires were completed. The mean±SD of the participants' self-esteem score was 38.49±6.55. Mean±SD of self-esteem score among the two-parent and single-parent students was 39.06±6.36 and 37.42±7.28, respectively (P=0.034). Dominant parenting style in both families was authoritative style. There were significant associations between the respondents' self-esteem and their perceived parenting styles, after matching sex, family income, level of education, and parents job (P<0.005)., Conclusion: The results of this research can be used in educational interventions to modify the dimensions of parenting styles and improve self-esteem. Therefore, considering the relationship between child-rearing style and adolescent self-esteem, assessing other relating factors with adolescent self-esteem especially in single-parent family, such as father absence stigma, is suggested.

Background: Few studies, especially in Iran, have assessed the status of family participation in the care of the hospitalized patients., Objectives: This study was conducted to assess why family members partake in caregiving of their patients in hospitals, the type of care that family provide, and the outcomes of the participation in the opinions of nurses and family members., Patients and Methods: In this comparative-descriptive study, data was collected by a two- version researcher-developed questionnaire, from 253 family members of patients by quota sampling method and 83 nurses by census sampling method from wards which had licensed for entering the families. Each questionnaire has three sections: the care needs of the patients which family participated to provide, the reasons to take part, and the outcomes of this collaborative care. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and also chi-squared test through SPSS software version 11.5., Results: The patients received more unskilled and non- professional nursing care from their family members. Most of the nurses and families believed that family participation is both voluntary and compulsory. The shortage of personnel in different categories of nursing and speeding up the patient-related affairs were the most important outcome of the participation, from the nurses' viewpoint was speeding up the patient-related affairs and from the side of the family members, it was the patients' feeling of satisfaction from the presence of one of their relatives beside them., Conclusions: Co understanding, skillfulness and competence of families and nurses in collaboration with each other were not good enough.Few studies, especially in Iran, have assessed the status of family participation in the care of the hospitalized patients.

Few researchers specifically focus on the sociocultural problems facing single-parent widows in the process of becoming widow after spousal death. Scant research has also been done on the effects that these problems have on their well-being. This study aims to investigate the sociocultural problems, responses and consequences experienced by Iranian widow/single-mothers. A qualitative exploratory study with a non-structured interview was used to collect the data from participants who consisted of 24 young Iranian single-parent widows. Using the constant comparative analysis method, the achieved results were summarized in three main categories: the facing of social problems, self-restriction and the consequences of social wearing, with some subcategories for the first and third categories. The findings could assist nurses in becoming aware of the sociocultural problems and their unhealthy psychosocial consequences so as to help them to better focus on them in their assessments and treatment, which in turn would empower the widows to adapt positively to widowhood and live hopefully., (© 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

The experience of the spousal bereavement of widows who are single parents has been largely neglected in the literature. This qualitative study provides insight into how such women grieved over their spouse's death in Iran. In-depth interviews with 24 participants were held and field notes were written. The generated data were analyzed by using the constant comparative method. The results indicated four main categories: "intense grief", "becoming hopeless", "internalizing bereavement and continuing bonds", and "the contexts of experience of spousal death". The fourth category consisted of two subcategories: "the unexpected nature of death" and "full dependence". The findings suggested that hopelessness related to spousal death changed the lifestyles of the participants, which led to health risks in these women. We conclude that it is the duty of health-care professionals, especially nurses, to first identify widows at risk, with the help of the contexts of experience of spousal death and the symptoms presented in this study, and then to provide hope therapy, which can facilitate positive bereavement outcomes for healthier living after spousal death.