Journal of Occupational

  Background: It seems that weight gain and body composition changes occur during the first year of college . The aim of this study was the comparison of body composition among freshmen medical sciences students one term after entering Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences , South East of Iran.

  Materials and Methods: All freshmen medicine (n = 73) and nursing- midwifery students (n = 57) of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences who had registered for the fall of 2013 were participated in this descriptive study. After obtaining written consents from the participants, their demographic information was collected. Then, using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), body composition of all the students was measured and recorded. Data were analyzed using independent two-sample t-test, paired t-test, and Wilcoxon signed-ranks test.

  Results: The difference between medical and nursing/midwifery students in terms of changes in body fat percentage ( 1.92 ± 2.87 versus -0.29 ± 2.21, respectively ) ( P < 0.001) and body water content ( -0.13 ± 1.34 versus 0.35 ± 1.20, respectively) ( P = 0.038) was statistically significant. Moreover, the difference in changes of fat free mass was statistically significant across the two groups (P = 0.026). Body fat percentage had decreased in the native students compared to the nonnatives (P < 0.001). The frequency of students with malnutrition and minimum fat percentage criteria had decreased, while it had increased to the recommended range at the end of the first semester.

  Conclusions: There was a statistically significant difference between medical and nursing/midwifery students in terms of fat percentage, fat free mass, and total body water content. It seems that the differences between the two groups might be because of being native or nonnative students.

Background: Sleep and rest are basic physiological human needs. Nurses work irregularly in morning, afternoon, and evening shifts; therefore, they are at greater risk of sleep problems than others. The aim of this study was to identify the factors related to sleep quality of nurses at Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013. The study subjects consisted of 366 nurses who were randomly selected from among nurses working at the medical university. Data collection tools included the occupational demographic questionnaire and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data analysis was performed using chi-square test and logistic regression model in SPSS software.

Results: It was found that 273 (74.7%) of the nurses had poor sleep quality. The overall mean score of nurses was 7.35 ± 2.86. The logistic regression model showed a statistically significant relationship between poor sleep quality and variables of age (P = 0.030) (95% CI: 1.09-1.010) (OR = 1.50), gender (P = 0.001) (95% CI: 0.23-0.70) (OR = 0.40), number of night shifts (P = 0.003), (95% CI: 1.138-1.11) (OR = 1.20), and having children of less than one year of age (P = 0.019) (95% CI: 3.8-1.12) (OR = 2.10). The chi-square test showed a significant relationship between poor sleep quality and the type of working shift (P = 0.001). About one-third of the nurses in this study used medicine for sleeping and had difficulty in falling asleep.

Conclusions: The results indicated that the sleep quality of the majority of the nurses was poor. It is suggested that a certain guideline be developed for planning nurses’ schedules using the results of this study and other studies in this area.

Background: Ethical issues are essential components in any piece of research. In fact, they ought to be considered during designing, planning and conducting each research study particularly among the vulnerable. The aim of this paper is to describe and explain some of the ethical issues and challenges faced by a researcher who carried out a research in three Malaysian residential homes.

Materials and Methods: This paper describes the challenges experienced by a researcher during two pilot studies and a main ethnographic study in three Malaysian residential homes. For this, relevant literatures were explored as well.

Results: This manuscript is divided into three sections. First, it provides the key definitions. Second, it describes the ethical issues before entering the fields work. And third, it elaborates on the ethical considerations when researcher was making observations and writing field notes, and when the elderly participants were interviewed.

Conclusions: Better understanding of ethical considerations can help researchers to better handle their research and avoid harming others.