Social Epidemiology
Fatemeh Rashidi; Maryam Mansouri Baghbaderani; Forutan Salehinezhad; Maryam Dastoorpoor
Abstract
Background and aims: Suicide is one of the most important complications of the industrialized world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of suicide attempt and suicide deaths in the population covered by Dezful University of Medical Sciences (DUMS).Methods: In this cross-sectional ...
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Background and aims: Suicide is one of the most important complications of the industrialized world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of suicide attempt and suicide deaths in the population covered by Dezful University of Medical Sciences (DUMS).Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the registered data of 3958 suicide attempts and 205 suicide deaths in Dezful from 2012 to 2018 were used. Gender, suicide method, residence, marital status, age, and education were used as the explanatory variables. The chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between qualitative variables in SPSS 22.0. A simple time series chart for suicide cases was drawn using the simple time series plot.Results: A total of 3958 suicide attempts and 205 suicide deaths were recorded in the study population. The suicide trend during 2012-2018 years was declining. Most of the suicides cases were female (60.1%), used drugs (65.3%), lived in cities (51.8%), were in the age group of 15-24 years (49.6%), and were middle school educated (26.8%). Drug abuse was reported more frequently than other methods (p ≥0.001).Conclusion: In this study, most of the suicide cases were females, married persons, adolescents, middle school educated persons, and drug users. It is suggested that the cultural, social, and economic problems of the families, especially women, be considered important and the families and the vulnerable groups receive the appropriate training.
Social Epidemiology
Mohammad-Rafi Bazrafshan; Hamed Delam
Abstract
Methods that people use to overcome problems are called coping strategies. The concept of coping was first introduced by Lazarus in 1966. He believed that stress involves three stages. First, there is the initial assessment, which is to observe a risk. The second stage involves the evaluation, which ...
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Methods that people use to overcome problems are called coping strategies. The concept of coping was first introduced by Lazarus in 1966. He believed that stress involves three stages. First, there is the initial assessment, which is to observe a risk. The second stage involves the evaluation, which is the search for an answer in the mind, and the third stage is to find the answer to the problem, which is called a coping strategy. Numerous studies have examined the causes of dangerous behaviors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and self-harming behaviors in individuals; however, many people who are exposed to difficult psychological distress do not tend to engage in such dangerous behaviors. These people have abilities that other people do not. Therefore, the differences between people who engage in dangerous behaviors and those who do not show such reactions in facing the problems can be traced to the coping methods used by these individuals when faced with difficult psychological conditions. However, if the coping strategies that a person uses to face with problems are effective, it creates a sense of self-control and therefore the person can finally solve the problem or cope with it, and if the strategies are ineffective, it will eventually lead to the use of ineffective coping strategies and sometimes dangerous behaviors. In a study on COVID-19 in China, researchers found that many people who confronted with COVID-19 pandemic have experienced high levels of psychological distress and that many people have used negative coping strategies for adapting to this crisis. Finally, it can be stated that the occurrence of dangerous behaviors in such critical situations is not a behavior without introduction. Therefore, some of the characteristics of people could be deduced such as their inability to find solutions to the problems, lack of coping strategies to manage stressors, and inflexibility and limitation of the number of solutions provided by them. To conclude, strengthening effective defense mechanisms by mental health professionals can reduce the incidence of such destructive behaviors in community members.
Social Epidemiology
Shervin Assari
Abstract
Background and aims: As suggests by the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDR) theory, educationattainment and other socioeconomic status (SES) indicators have a smaller impact on the health andwell-being of non-White than White Americans. To test whether MDR also applies to happiness, in thepresent ...
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Background and aims: As suggests by the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDR) theory, educationattainment and other socioeconomic status (SES) indicators have a smaller impact on the health andwell-being of non-White than White Americans. To test whether MDR also applies to happiness, in thepresent study, Blacks and Whites were compared in terms of the effect of education attainment on thelevel of happiness among American adults.Methods: General Social Survey (1972-2016) is a series of national surveys that are performed in theUnited States. The current analysis included 54 785 adults (46 724 Whites and 8061 Blacks). The yearsof schooling (i.e., education attainment) and happiness were the main independent variable and themain dependent variable of interest, respectively. In addition, other parameters such as gender, age,employment status, marital status, and the year of the survey were the covariates and race was thefocal effect modifier. Finally, the logistic regression model was used to analyze the data.Results: Based on the results, high education attainment was associated with higher odds of happinessin the pooled sample. Further, a significant interaction was found between race and educationattainment on the odds of happiness, showing a larger gain for Whites compared to Blacks. Racespecificmodels also confirmed this finding (i.e., a larger magnitude of the effect of education forWhites compared to Blacks).Conclusion: Overall, the MDR theory also applies to the effect of education attainment on happiness.Blacks’ disadvantage in comparison to the Whites in gaining happiness from their education may bedue to the structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism and discrimination in the US. Therefore,there is a need for economic and public policies that can minimize the Blacks’ diminished returns ofeducation attainment and other SES resources.
Social Epidemiology
Mojdeh Mirzaei; Mohsen Naderi Beni; Mohammad Reza Fadaei; Azam Safarai
Volume 3, Issue 4 , November 2016, , Pages 371-375
Abstract
Background and aims: The study investigated mortality rates of children in west area of Isfahan province in 2006-2012.Methods: This cross- sectional study performed in a seven- years period by using information received from Isfahan Health center on neonatal mortality rate, and infant mortality rate ...
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Background and aims: The study investigated mortality rates of children in west area of Isfahan province in 2006-2012.Methods: This cross- sectional study performed in a seven- years period by using information received from Isfahan Health center on neonatal mortality rate, and infant mortality rate under 5 years mortality rate in the west of Isfahan province.Results: The results showed that the NMR in rural areas was 13.5 and in urban areas was 9.5, IMR in rural areas was 18.6 and in urban areas was 13.5, and also U5MR in rural areas was 21.8 and in urban areas was 15.3, Results showed significant relation between indicators of NMR and IMR and U5MR with their life area showing.Conclusion: The results showed that the family physician design has been effective in reducing child mortality, but child mortality rates are still higher in rural areas than urban areas. Therefore, it can be concluded that with implementation family physician design only couldn’t change healthy indications in different areas by itself. Other social and economic factors such as income and health education should be improved along with it.