Background & Objectives : Coronary artery disease is one of the most important mortality causes in developed and developing countries. Many risk factors can influence coronary artery disease some of which can be controlled and prevented. Information should be given to people for controlling these factors and prior to this information – giving, the primary awareness of them about risk factors needs to be ascertained. This research is a study of the knowledge, attitude and practice of Ardabil people about CAD risk factors.

  Methods : This descriptive analytic study was done on 384 individuals (female and male) over 20 years old. These subjects were selected from five clusters. Synthetic questionnaire was used for data collection through direct interview at home. The collected data was then analyzed by SPSS software.

  Results : 50.5% of samples were females. 27.3 % of the subjects were high-school graduates. Most of them (70%) were aware of stress and lesion as risk factors. 66.9% of them were aware only of the effect of immobility on coronary artery disease but 13% of them had regular physical activity. 52.1% of them were aware of the harmful effect of salt on CAD, but 15% of them had low salt intake. 48.2% of people were aware of benefit of liquid oil on health, but only 25% of them consumed it. Results showed that, 48.2%, 51.3% and 40.9% of individual had moderate knowledge, positive attitude, and weak practice, respectively. The relationship among variables was significant (P<0.0001), and practice of people has been increased with increasing of knowledge and attitude.

  Conclusion : Regarding these results, regular programs are necessary for increasing awareness and practice of people as primary preventive steps for controlling CAD.

 Background & Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer occurring among women and the second leading cause of death from cancer among them. The mortality rate of breast cancer is directly related to the stage of the disease when diagnosed, and is reduced by regular breast cancer screening program. This survey is carried out to identify the knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Ardabil about BSE.

 Methods: In this descriptive study, 150 women with 20-25 years of age, were selected through systematic cluster sampling. Knowledge, attitude and practice of them about BSE were investigated through face to face interview, and the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics.

 Results: 44% of women had some information about breast cancer. 44.7% of them had average information about BSE. There was statistically significant relationship between knowledge of BSE on the one hand and age, marital status and history of previous breast examination on the other. 52% of them believed in BSE for early detection of breast cancer. Their attitude towards BSE was positive (51.3%) and there was a significant relationship between their knowledge and attitude. 18% of the subjects practiced BSE at least once, and their overall practice was in a weak level (46.7%).

 Conclusions: Qualitative researches could be recommended to recognize the factors effective in the improvement of acceptance of breast cancer screening methods among women.

  Background & Objective : In order to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity, midwives should be able to implement community cares for women and their families. The aim of this study is to investigate midwives ’ knowledge, attitude and readiness to practice community oriented midwifery (COM).

  Methods : In this cross sectional study, all 280 midwives working in Kerman hospitals and health service centers were selected. The questioner for data collection had two parts. The first part intended to describe the characteristics of samples and the second part was used to evaluate midwives ’ knowledge, attitude, and readiness to practice community oriented midwifery. Correlation and chi - square tests were used to analyze the data.

  Results : Mean of knowledge score was 21.13 and 16.4% of the subjects had a good knowledge of COM. Mean of attitude score was 77.07 and 61.8% of the samples had a positive attitude towards COM. 79.2% of samples announced their readiness to practice COM.

  Conclusions : Based on the findings of this study it seems that the professional knowledge of midwives should be promoted, regarding COM.

  Background & Objective : The fast population growth is one of the basic problems in Iran and using family planning devices has a remarkable role in decreasing it. The findings of researches carried out nationwide indicate the effectiveness of instruction in the application of family planning methods and devices. The objective of this study is determining the level of knowledge of 15-49 year-old women under Ardabil health and treatment center services.

  Methods : 138 qualified mothers were chosen randomly from among 15-49 year-old women under Ardabil health and treatment centers services. These subjects were selected from among 14 centers (10 mother from each center) and had secondary school level of education. This descriptive cross-sectional and prospective research was conducted by filling out the pre-planned questionnaire and preparing educational booklets and giving them to the mothers under the study as pretest and post-test procedures during the time span of December 2000 to May 2001.

  Results : No meaningful relationship was found between employment and utilizing family-planning devices. The results of Mc-Nemar test and t-test showed that statistically the instruction given with regard to the method of beginning to take anti-gestation pills, method of the intervals of taking the anti-gestation pills, taking measures at the time of forgetting to take anti-gestation pills, the preference of vasectomy to tobectomy, the interval between the injection of anti-gestation ampoules and the duration of IUD effectiveness before and after studying the manuals demonstrated a significant difference.

  Conclusions : Education plays an important role in increasing the knowledge level of the population under study and hence it improves their performance about family planning. So this instruction is recommended to be followed seriously.

 Background & Objectives: Neglecting children can have irremediable and harmful effects on them concerning their growth, evolution, acquisition, and health both at present and in the future. Since lack of nutrition knowledge and failing to observe the principles of infant nutrition is one of the important causes of malnutrition and its unpleasant consequences, we decided to carry out an assessment concerning mothers’ level of awareness about infant nutrition and the factors affecting this knowledge, as well as the effect of this knowledge on growth and development of children.

 Methods: This descriptive-analytical research was conducted to evaluate mothers’ knowledge of infant and neonatal nutrition and its effect on infant growth in Hir health center. The data were collected using a questionnaire, including 20 questions, which was filled out in the health center. Moreover weight, height and head circumference of 100 infants were measured. The data were analyzed using SPSS software.

 Results: All mothers’ age ranged between15-36 and were housewives.15% were unlettered, 18% had high school education and others primary or secondary school education. 55% of children were female and 45% male. 67% of mothers had knowledge about proper neonatal and infant nutrition. 97% of them had little knowledge about when to start introducing different nutrients for infants, 3% had moderate knowledge in this regard.

 Conclusion: Regarding the findings of this study and the lower knowledge level of mothers about when to start giving different food to infants as well as the importance of proper nutrition in their growth, it is necessary to improve mothers’ knowledge and promote children’s health.

 Background & Objectives: It is estimated that 4-10% of diabetic patients suffer from foot ulcer. About one in five people with diabetes enters hospital for foot problems. Regarding the importance of education for these patients, the present research was conducted to evaluate the effect of education on foot care among diabetic patients referring to Ardabil Buali hospital.

 Methods: From the diabetic patients referring to Buali hospital (diabetes center) 120 patients admitted for the first time, who had had no past training about diabetes, were selected. Each patient was asked to fill out a questionnaire on his reference to the hospital. The questionnaire had 38 questions, the first 8 of which were about the demographic status and the illness itself and the rest of them concerned priniciples of foot care. Following this, these diabetic patients participated in public classes in the center, and a month later they filled the questionnaire again. Finally their knowledge before and ofter the education period was compared using statistical analyses.

 Results: The level of knowledge of 73.33% of the subjects before education was medium whereas following the education this rose to 86.67%. Comparing the level of knowledge of patients before and after education using t-test indicated that the level of knowledge after education is significantly higher than before (p<0.001).

 Conclusion: with regard to the significant difference in knowledge of diabetic patients before and after education, it can be concluded that educational classes of diabetic center can improve the knowledge of patients about foot care. So they are strongly recommended to be held for all these patients.

 Background & Objectives: Breast Cancer is among the most common types of cancer in women which in case of early diagnosis and treatment can increase women’s chance of survival. This study was performed in two case and control groups.

 Methods: This case-control study which was based on hospital records was conducted on 303 breast cancer patients and 303 control women. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS using Chi-square.

 Results: The study revealed that there were significant differences between the cases and controls with regard to knowledge (p<0.001) and practice (p<0.001) of breast self-examination. 61% of the cases and 32% of the controls mentioned BSE as a necessary measure for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. 76% of the cases and 47% of the controls were not aware of the proper time for BSE (p<0.001). More than two-third of the subjects in each group did not know the proper time and the necessity of BSE in menopause and pregnant women and these was a statistically significant difference between two groups in this regard (p<0.001). Women in case group had done more frequently than controls (p<0.04). Moreover, the BSE intervals in two groups was statistically significant (p<0.01). There was also a significant difference between the reasons of refusing to do BSE in two groups (p<0.05). Subjects in neither group had regularly referred to a physician for examination and early diagnosis.

 Conclusion:�Since the knowledge and practice of women and their referring to a physician for breast examination is inadequate, it seems necessary to devise educational program about doing monthly BSE and hold educational courses to promote women’s knowledge concerning the early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as its appropriate and regular performance.

  Background & Objectives: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a history of only three decades, has turned into a threatening pandemic disease world wide giving rise to 3.1 million deaths in 2005. Since there is no distinctive treatment or effective vaccine for AIDS, its epidemiology is similar to non-communicable and behavioral diseases. Since accurate knowledge and attitude is necessary for a healthy behavior, we conducted this study on high school students of Ardabil to determine their sources of acquiring information on AIDS as well as to find out their attitude and knowledge about this disease.

  Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 students in Ardabil high schools during the year 2002 using cluster random sampling method. A questionnaire with 4 groups of questions including demographic information, source of information used for AIDS and the amount each source is used as well as attitude and knowledge of the participants regarding AIDS was distributed in the school. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS.

  Results : 378 (47.2%) out of 800 students were girls and the rest of them were boys. The media used for getting informed about AIDS was determined to be: 84.5% TV, 51.4% newspapers and magazines, 49.6% papers and books and 30.6% radio. 89% of the girls and 67% of the boys used TV. The difference was statistically significant(p<0.001). Sources of information in interview form were found to be health care workers with 17.7%, teachers with 10.2%, friends with 9.5%, religious authorities with 8.6%, family members with 8% and other relatives with 5.6%. A combition of the above-mentioned methods plus other souces formed 41.3% of the information source of the students about AIDS. Only 46.3% of the students had a proper insight in their interaction with role-playing patients of AIDS. 44% of the participants had weak and 56% had moderate knowledge about transmission ways of HIV and no one had good knowledge in this regard. There was no significant difference between age, sex and knowledge. The highest percentage of moderate knowledge score was seen in student studying experimental sciences. Only TV had a significant correlation with knowledge (p=0.001).

  Conclusion: This study entails that more attention must be paid to education through effective use of TV broadcasting. Films, pictures, teachers, clergymen, radio, books and papers had not an effective educational role among high school students regarding AIDS.