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Background and Objective: Midwifery students are more at risk of psychological harm than other students due to their specific professional characteristics. Feeling of inferiority and lack of academic engagement can lead to reduced academic performance and increased psychological problems. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on feeling of inferiority and academic engagement among midwifery students.
Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial involved 2023-2024. Sixty-four undergraduate midwifery students were selected using a convenience sampling method. After obtaining written informed consent, the students were randomly assigned to two groups: one intervention group and one control group, each consisting of 32 participants. The intervention consisted of eight 60-minute sessions (once a week) of group Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The control group did not receive any intervention. The research tools included a demographic checklist, Yao et al. Inferiority Feeling Questionnaire and Schaufeli et al.  Academic Engagement Questionnaire. The questionnaires were completed by the participants in three stages: before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and one month after the intervention. Relevant statistical tests, using SPSS version 16, were employed to analyze the data.
Results: The results showed that after the intervention, the mean scores of feeling of inferiority and academic engagement between the intervention and control groups were significantly different (p < 0.05). In the intervention group, the mean of overall feeling of inferiority before the intervention was 58.12 (24.06); after the intervention, it decreased to 59.52  (21.13) and at follow-up, it further declined to 51.55 (17.30). In terms of overall academic engagement, the mean scores before the intervention were 53.47 (9.74), which changed to 58.21 (7.22) after the intervention and increased slightly to 58.62 (7.40) at follow-up. For the control group, the mean scores for general feeling of inferiority were as follows: before the intervention, it was 69.38 (26.73); after the intervention, it was 73.75 (28.06); and at follow-up, it was 73.59 (22.11). Regarding general academic engagement, the scores were 49.38 (4.31) before the intervention, 48.94 (4.50) after the intervention, and 47.84 (3.06) at follow-up.
Conclusion: Based on the study's findings, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is recommended to enhance students' feeling of inferiority and academic engagement. It seems that teaching this counseling method to students in the form of a workshop will help them deal with academic and clinical problems more efficiently.

 

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  Background and Objective: In today's complicated world learning is of paramount importance, with education as the base of all learning: Also education in particular clinical education requires appropriate equipment and facilities for learning even provision of creature comfort for student plays a significant role.

  This study was carried out with the aim of assessing the educational facilities of the hospitals from the standpoint of midwifery student of Zanjan University of medical sciences.

 

  Material and Methods: In this descriptive study thirty six third term and fifth term midwifery students of associate's level participated. Data collecting tool included a questionnaire which was designed based on Likert scale, and investigated the student's point of view on hospital's educational facilities. This questionnaire was completed at one stage by the sample units. To analyses the data descriptive statistics and SPSS11 software were utilized.

 

  Results: The obtained results from this study showed that the majority of students assessed the educational facilities of the hospitals as average. However, a couple of items like the number of lockers accessible to the students in the hospitals (64.42 %), a resting place for the students (69.44%), and diversity of the patients for familiarity with different cases of disease (72.18%) were low or very low.

 

  Conclusion: Although hospitals facilities were evaluated as average improvement of positive and rectifying the defects could be an effective step toward enhancement of clinical education. Thus, improving the equipment and facilities should be considered as a major task by the university authorities. It is also suggested that through frequent evaluation of clinical fields and the comparison of present situation with the previous and the next situation, the negative and positive aspects of clinical education be recognized.

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  Background and objective: The continuous examination of the current situation, and recognizing the strengths and improving the weaknesses are necessary for promoting the quality of clinical education. Different evaluation methods have been introduced for evaluating clinical skills. Using logbook is common in clinical units. The purpose of this study was to evaluate midwifery clinical teachers and students viewpoints towards using logbook.

  Material and Methods : This descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out on 16 midwifery clinical teachers and 60 midwifery students of Zanjan Nursing and Midwifery School. Cases of the study selected through Census methods sampling. A researcher made questionnaire consisted of 3 domains of necessity, content and method of execution was used for data collection. Questions related to each of these areas were scored on a five point scale. The data was analyzed by SPSS software using frequency distribution.

  Results : Most subjects concerning urgency domain were confirmed by both clinical teachers and students. While the situation of quality of content and implementation of logbook was not optimal. The most important weaknesses of logbook were lake of requirements, Regulations, List of References, Conferences and other educational activities, Professional ethics skills and possibility of Student assessment. Most students and teachers did not complete logbook daily.

  Conclusion : Considering the importance of using logbook in the clinical evaluation of students, and the logbook weaknesses, Reload this tool is recommended.

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Understanding employment status, unemployment and its causes could provide suitable data for student admission, graduation, continuation or discontinuation, work experience, and employment. In cases where student admission and quality of training programs are not harmonized with social needs, there will be an increase in unemployment and waste of money and resources. This study is aimed at identifying the causes of unemployment among the midwives of Qazvin Medical Sciences University

Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, all the midwives admitted to Qazvin midwifery and nursing college during 1996-2006 were studied between 2008 -2009. Their addresses were taken from the college archives and the questionnaires were mailed to all the available samples.

Results: The average age of the cases was 25.27 years old.56.7% of them had studied in day classes and 43.3% in night classes 34% were employed, 35.5% were unemployed, 18.7% were students and 11.8% were practicing the job. The duration of unemployment after education was 2 years or less in 66% cases, but 4.3 % cases were 7 years or more. The main causes of unemployment were market saturation, higher education and employment in unsuitable and remote places.

Conclusion: These findings and the other cases reveal that if practicing midwives are ignored, unemployment rate rises. Paving the way for midwives to work in the hospitals, maternity hospitals and health care centers as well as obtaining permit for them to have private offices could provide more job opportunities for the midwives.

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Women are the half of human population. Their health determines the health of the future generation. Physiological and hormonal changes affect the oral health in women, and oral health affect the individual health. So, this study was conducted to introduce a new strategy for oral health improvement.

Methods and Materials: This article was derivated from the results of studies on Zanjan 15-60 year old women oral health with regard to community and evidence‑based dentistry.

Results: The women oral health status wasn’t perfect. The results of these studies showed that one of the important strategies in preventive dentistry is the simple access to health care staff.

Conclusions: The women currently referring to the midwives and gynecologists, are encouraged to get the oral care and be careful. It is recommended to revise midwifery curriculum by oral health integration.

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Choosing a field of study and job is one of the most important decisions throughout the life. Because of great responsibility of midwifes towards mothers and newborns, this career must be chosen carefully and with more interest. The aim of this study is to assess the midwifery student's motivation towards career choice in Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Material and Methods: All midwifery students of Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery were selected for this descriptive study by census sampling. Data was collected by a questionnaire consisting of two parts: demographic characteristics and career motivations. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney test ) and SPSS 16.

Results: Usefulness of midwifery in life, interest in clinical work and social status were the most important motivations to choose midwifery. For part-time bachelor midwifery students having an independent office and social status was more important. While for full‑time bachelor midwifery students family consultations and income were more important.

Conclusion: According to the study results, it seems that interest in studying midwifery and money matters were not major motives for choose this career. This can lead to frustration, academic failure and job dissatisfaction in such students.

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Background and Objective: The unemployment of graduates is one of the main economic and social challenges. The aim of this study was to investigate the employment status of midwifery and nursing graduates of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences.

Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study all nursing and midwifery graduates who were graduated between years of 1383-87 were studied. Data was collected with questionnaires. Data analysis was performed by utilizing SPSS statistical software on 203 filled questionnaires. 

Results: The results indicated that 27.55% of midwifery graduates were unemployed, 4.08% were probationally hired, 18.37% had contracts and 15.31% were hired through human resources plan. 11.43 percent of nursing graduates were unemployed, 39.05% hired through human resources plan, and more than a third of them had yearly or probation contracts. More than 70 percent of graduates worked in public centers and the majority was working in hospitals.

Conclusion: The results represent high rates of unemployment among midwifery graduates, and lack of job-safety status for nursing graduates. On the other hand, the role of private centers in this regard is very small.

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Background and Objective: Retraining is an important way for health workers keeping them up to date, and need assessment and evaluation are the essential principles for enhancing the efficiency of those under training. The aim of this study was to determine the viewpoints of midwives employed in Zanjan University of Medical Science towards continuing education programs. 

Material and Methods: In this analytical-descriptive study, the number of samples based on the census was 43.Data gathering tool was a series of multiple choice questions about demographic data, priorities and educational needs which were designed based on Likert Scale and the aim of participation in this courses. Also some problems and suggestions were in the form of open questions that were filled and collected by our colleagues in one phase. Descriptive statistics and Spss14 software were utilized for analyzing information.

Results: 35 out of 43 midwives who were working in the centers, participated in this research. Their average age was 34.3±4.1 their mean years of service was 124 month the average number of courses they had taken part was 16 and the duration of these courses was about 134 hours. More than 75% of them had attended in different retraining courses just inside the Zanjan province. 61.7% of them took part in unrelated training courses with different reasons such as interest and gaining job credits, 79.4% for improving their educational levels, 26.4% for reviewing lessons and 14% for gaining job credits. Most of their educational needs were new drugs and treatment methods in midwifery, new techniques and equipment of health care in topology and emergency centers. Major problems with these courses were inefficient proficiency of professors. There were many suggestions for holding regular and frequent courses in intensive form similar to medical courses.

Conclusion: In view of the fact that midwives as a member of medical and health group have a significant role in improving the country's health and with respect to goals of educational courses, continuous retrainings and updating participants' information for meeting personal learning needs and improving practice along with constant changes, awareness of authorities about requirements of health care personnel seems to be necessary .

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  Background and Objective : Learning Style is one of the most effective factors in academic achievement. Hence, attention to learning style is essential to success in any educational system . This study was conducted to investigate relationship between learning styles, and academic achievement among students of Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2013.

  Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study 208 students who enrolled at least one semester in the School of Nursing and Midwifery were randomly selected. The instruments of collecting data were Kolb Learning Style Inventory (3.1-2005) and a demographic form. These questionnaires were given to subjects in accordance with established ethical codes. The collected data were entered SPSS ( 18 ) and analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics .

  Results: The results indicate d that the highest mean belonged to abstract conceptualization learning styles (76.5 ± 35.33) and the lowest to actual experience (22.6 ± 16.26) respectively. In other words, most of the students in this study could benefit from the assimilating and diverging learning styles in their learning. There is a significant relationship between active experimentation learning style and students' academic achievement (r= 0.136, p= 0.05).

  Conclusion: Since the majority of the student learning styles were assimilating and diverging, and there existed a significant relationship between the students’ learning styles and their academic achievement, teachers are advised to take practical steps to involve them in analytical and explanatory teaching.

 

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Background and Objective: Clinical instructors play an important role in creating a learning environment for their students to acquire professional skills. This study is aimed to determine students' views on educational performance, interpersonal relationships and personal characteristics of clinical instructors at Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery. Materials and Methods: In this cross - sectional study, 332 college students of Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery participated. A questionnaire was designed which was approved by EDO members of the faculty. Questions were designed in five categories: general teaching ability, professional competency, student evaluation, interpersonal relationships and personal characteristics.Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, Friedman test, analysis of variance, and SPSS software were used to analyze the data. Results: 82.2% of students described the educational performance of their clinical instructors as “good”. In 80.9% of cases of clinical competence, in the area of Student Evaluation in 76.2% of cases and in 79.7% of cases of interpersonal relationships evaluation results were good. From the students’ perspective clinical instructors' personal characteristics in 75.1% of cases were evaluated as good. The instructors’ scores was 84.9 out of a total of 100 scores and for both males and females the difference was not statistically significant. The total score achieved by clinical professors with Ph.D. degrees was higher than teachers’ with a Master's Degree and B.Sc. Degree. It was also higher among midwifery instructors in comparison with the instructors of other fields and the differences were statistically significant ( p<.05 ). The lowest score was for the instructors with 5 -10 years experience and the highest was for the instructors with more than 10 years of experience. Conclusion: Although the practice of instructors in Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery has been evaluated as good, but with frequent evaluation of clinical education, monitoring of instructors performance, comparing the current situation with the situation before, strengthening the positive aspects and modifying the weaknesses we can take an effective step to further promote the quality of clinical education.

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Background: Educational software as a learning-centered approach, Provides a rich source that could be an opportunity to enhance learning and increase learning skills and it creates a collaborative environment that allows learners and teachers to search, and to study a variety of issues. Objective : This study is to evaluate the impact of educational software designed about fundamental of nursing skills on nursing and midwifery students' learning of practical skills. Methods: This research is a semi-empirical study. In this study, 381 nursing and midwifery students(193 nursing students and 188 midwifery students) of the first semester were recruited through simple random sampling, they were allocated into intervention and control groups. First, both groups were trained in the traditional way and their practical skills were examined by means of appropriate check lists. Next, the educational software was given to students' assigned to intervention groups. In this period, students of control group had time to review and practice their skills as routine. Practical skills of both groups were re- evaluated by using SPSS 16 software with t test, paired t-test. Findings: The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of test scores (exam1) in both intervention and control groups, was not observed a significant difference(p>0/05). Whereas in exam 2 in the intervention group compared with the control group, significant difference was observed in the mean and standard deviation of students' scores(p< 0/05). Conclusion: Test results showed that the use of educational software can be used as an effective teaching strategy, in addition to promoting improved cognitive psychomotor performance in students.

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Background and Objectives: Clinical education is an important part of nursing and midwifery curriculum and is a main basis for clinical skills and professional competencies of students. Improvement of clinical education requires awareness of clinical environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of clinical education in teaching hospitals affiliated with Zanjan University of Medical Sciences from the viewpoints of nursing and midwifery students.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 100 nursing and midwifery students who were studying in their second and third academic year and were selected by census method at Zanjan University of Medical Science in 2012- 2013.  A two-part questionnaire was used to collect data. The first part assessed demographic data and the second part evaluated clinical education status which included 33 items in following five domains; purpose and educational curriculum, instructor characteristics, educational environment characteristics, quality of interactions between students and other staff, and supervision and evaluation. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t- test using SPSS ver. 17.

Results: Results showed that among five domains of clinical education, goals and educational planning and instructor’s characteristics were reported as moderate or high levels. But the quality of interaction with students, characteristics of educational environment and supervision and evaluation were reported as moderate or low levels. There were no significant differences on domains of clinical education between nursing and midwifery students.

Conclusion: Although some aspects of clinical education were estimated as moderate or high level, but there were still some weak points that disrupted the integrated chain of clinical education. Therefore, it is necessary to give clinical education consideration in order to strengthen the positive aspects and modify the weaknesses to improve its quality.

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Background and Objective:  Midwifery students should consider both maternal and fetal health. Hence, this study was conducted to compare the effects of simulation video education with lecture on midwifery students’ knowledge and self-confidence regarding cardiopulmonary assessment.

Materials and Methods:  In this quasi experimental study, 28 midwifery students randomly allocated to two groups of simulation video education and lecture. Data was collected using a three section questionnaire consisted of midwifery students’ demographic characteristic, knowledge and self-confidence in cardiopulmonary assessment. Data was collected before and after training methods and was analyzed using SPSS19 software and independent t‑test and paired t‑test.

Results: The mean score of knowledge and self-confidence before and after intervention in both groups of simulation video education and lecture was not significant (P<0.0001). Besides, results indicated that, mean scores of knowledge 9(±1.24) and self-confidence 26.14(±3.32) in stimulation video group were more than the mean scores of knowledge 5.78(±0.75) and self-confidence 15.57(±4.11) in lecture group. This difference was statistically significant (P<0.0001).

Conclusion: According to the findings, using simulation methods such as video approach might be more effective in improving students’ knowledge and self-confidence regarding cardiopulmonary assessment than lecture. Thus, video simulation approach could be used as a substitute or supplementary method to improve students’ learning and to achieve mastery.

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Background and objective: Breaking bad news is a very stressful task for both health professionals and patients. Teaching how to break bad news appropriately is one of the important concerns in medical education. So, this study aimed to compare role play and multimedia methods based on SPIKES strategy on midwifery students’ knowledge and attitude in breaking bad news to patients.

Materials and Methods:  A clinical trial study was done in three groups on 90 midwifery students in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences who were selected randomly. Students were trained by role play and multimedia methods. Control group had not received any intervention. Knowledge and attitude questionnaires were filled out before and two weeks after intervention.

Results: Knowledge and attitude mean scores after intervention in the 3 groups had significant difference (P< 0.05). Moreover, attitude score in multimedia group was higher than role play group and there was a significant difference between them (P=0.045).

Conclusion: Multimedia as an independent and non-attendance program can increase students’ knowledge as same as the role play while, it can change students’ attitude more than the role play method.

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Background and Objective: Assessment of the condition of medical science graduates, especially in the field of nursing and midwifery, is of paramount importance. This research aimed to determine the occupational status in BSc graduates of nursing, operating room, anesthesia technology and midwifery fields in School of Nursing and Midwifery, Zanjan, Iran in the past five years.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted on 560 graduates of nursing, operating room, Anesthesia Technology, and midwifery fields, graduated from the school of nursing and midwifery during the academic years of 2010-2015. Data were collected through telephone interviews and a researcher-made questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 22 using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: In this research, data of 487 out of 560 graduates were analyzed due to the lack of access to some of the individuals. According to the results, more than 85% of graduates from the nursing, operating room, anesthesia technology and midwifery fields, who graduated during 2010-2015, were employed, whereas 3% of the subjects in each field of study were unemployed. Moreover, more than 70% of the employees in each field of study had government occupations.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, most of the graduates in nursing, midwifery, operating room and Anesthesia Technology fields were recruited by government sections. Awareness of the occupational status and distribution of graduates of fields related to medical sciences can facilitate the estimation of student admission capacity and provide human resources to the community.

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Background & Aim: The main goal of each educational system is successful implementation of the learning process. One of the tools used to achieve this goal is providing effective feedback to students during the learning process. Since clinical education forms majority of medical sciences education (e.g., nursing and midwifery), providing feedback to students during clinical education is of paramount importance. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the status of feedback provision in clinical education from the viewpoint of nursing and midwifery professors and students and to determine its relevant factors.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive and analytical research was performed on all BSc nursing and midwifery students (third-semester upward) and all clinical professors in 2016-2017. In total, 198 students and 50 professors were enrolled in the study. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire, validity, and reliability of which were confirmed using content and face validity and test-retest, respectively. In addition, data analysis was performed in SPSS using descriptive statistics and independent t-test.
Results: In this study, 73.2% of students and 74% of professors considered the status of feedback provision in clinical education as moderate, and no significant difference was in the viewpoint of them in this regard (P=0.38). According to the results, the most used type of feedback was oral and individual feedback, and the most important cause of lack of provision of effective feedback included inadequate scientific mastery in the relevant subject, lack of knowledge and skill of professors regarding feedback provision principles, high number of students, and short duration of internship.
Conclusion: Despite the impact of feedback on the effectiveness of education and improvement of the teaching-learning process, the present study demonstrated the status of feedback provision in clinical education is not desirable and different factors are related to this issue. Therefore, it is necessary to design some solutions to improve the abilities of professors in the areas of providing feedback and helping the improvement of clinical education.

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Background & Objective: One of the important purpose of clinical education is to improve students' clinical skills. About 50% of midwifery education focuses on clinical education. One of the methods for assessing the performance of the student’s qualified medical sciences is the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). This study was designed to qualitatively explain the views of midwifery students of Islamic Azad University of Kerman on OSCE exam in comprehensive examination of midwifery undergraduate course in maternity unit. In order to answer the question, "What are the experiences and views of midwifery students regarding the final examination course the method Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) "?
Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, a purposive sampling method was used among the undergraduate students of midwifery of Kerman Islamic Azad University which had made final as OSCE. The research was conducted to reach the sample size of 13 people, when data saturation occurred. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews for 30-40 minutes. The data were analyzed according to the descriptive- Colaizzi phenomenological approach.
Results: In the present study, the live experiences of students obtained through interviews with them showed that their expectations regarding clinical evaluation with an objective structure mainly included such cases: the necessity of clinical evaluation in OSCE; the need to use OSCE as a standard tool in clinical evaluation; the necessity of fair clinical evaluation with OSCE; the anxiety of this test.
Conclusion: In the clinical evaluation of the practicality of the test should be considered discovery of students 'practical skills, students' peace of mind and the administration of justice in evaluation at different stages of the test, and all these features are reflected in the OSCE. So this test can be used as an objective tool in clinical evaluation and its application to officials and relevant teachers suggested.

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