Background: Patient participation means involvement of the patient in decision making or expressing opinions about different treatment methods, which includes sharing information, feelings and signs and accepting health team instructions. Objectives: Given the importance of patient participation in healthcare decision making which empowers patients and improves services and health outcomes, this study was performed to review previous studies on patient participation in healthcare decision making. Materials and Methods: To prepare this narrative review article, researchers used general and specific search engines, as well as textbooks addressing this subject for an in-depth study of patient involvement in healthcare decision-making. As a result, 35 (out of 100 relevant) articles and also two books were selected for writing this review article. Results: Based on the review of articles and books, topics were divided into six general categories: definition of participation, importance of patient participation, factors influencing participation of patients in healthcare decisions, method of patient participation, tools for evaluating participation, and benefits and consequences of patient participation in health care decision-making. Conclusions: In most studies, factors influencing patient participation consisted of: factors associated with health care professionals such as doctor-patient relationship, recognition of patient’s knowledge, allocation of sufficient time for participation, and also factors related to patients such as having knowledge, physical and cognitive ability, and emotional connections, beliefs, values and their experiences in relation to health services. Keywords: Patient; Decision-Making; Health Care

Background: Research in the past decade has revealed average to poor menstrual health among many Iranian girls. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a health promotion project on improving menstrual health in adolescent girls in Iran. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the health intervention program. A total of 698 students (study participants and controls) in several schools in Mazandaran province, Iran were included. The project comprised 10 two-hour educational sessions. Educational topics included the significance of adolescence, physical and emotional changes during adolescence, pubertal and menstruation health and premenstrual syndrome. A self-administered questionnaire measuring demographic characteristics, behaviors during menstruation, menstrual patterns, sources of information about menstruation and personal health data was administered. The questionnaire was administered to all participating students after the experimental group received the training. Results: Among the most significant results was the impact of educational sessions on bathing and genital hygiene. A total of 61.6% in the experimental group compared with 49.3% in the control group engaged in usual bathing during menstruation (p = 0.002). Individual health status was significantly statistically correlated with menstrual health. Attitude towards menstruation was also significantly related to menstrual health. Conclusions: The present study confirms that educational interventions, such as the health promotion project in this study, can be quite effective in promoting menstrual health.

Context: Many psycho-socioeconomic and other types factors associated with cancer, the treatment process, and changes in patients’ physical appearance and sexual function influence the body image of women with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors influence the body image of women with breast cancer. Data Collection: A narrative literature review was conducted. Electronic databases, including Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Barekat, Web of Science, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Scopus, and PubMed, including Medline, were searched to retrieve articles published from 1993 to 2016 using the keywords breast cancer, treatment, body image, and related factors. The quality of selected studies was appraised using a checklist adapted from Samadaee-Gelehkolaee (2016). Results: Of 690 articles retrieved in the search, 190 articles were selected for full text appraisal. Finally, 44 articles were selected for data analysis. The results were classified under three headings: bio-psycho-socioeconomic factors, factors associated with the disease and treatment processes, and physical appearance and sexual function. Conclusions: The findings of this review showed that many factors can influence the body image of women suffering from breast cancer. These factors were predictors of patients’ inter-personal and intra-personal relationships with their partners and others who influenced various other aspects of their lives, possibly leading to many life’s issues. These factors must be identified and considered to make the most appropriate decisions for patients. The strength of this study lies in the exploration of factors influencing the body image of women with breast cancer which earlier studies did not consider. Moreover, the authors believe that this research has addressed nearly all the factors that are real concerns in the body image of women with breast cancer. Keywords: Breast Cancer; Body Image; Treatments; Related Factors

Regarding the contradictions about positive and negative effects of hysterectomy on women's sexual functioning, this study was conducted to review the studies on the effect of hysterectomy on postoperative women's sexual function. This study was a narrative review and performed in 5 steps: a) Determining the research questions, b) Search methods for identification of relevant studies, c) Choosing the studies, d) Classifying, sorting out, and summarizing the data, and e) reporting the results. The review of the studies yielded 5 main categories of results as follows: The effect of hysterectomy on Sexual desire, the effect of hysterectomy on sexual arousal, the effect of hysterectomy on orgasm, the effect of hysterectomy on dyspareunia, and the effect of hysterectomy on sexual satisfaction. According to the studies reviewed in this study, most of the sexual disorders improve after hysterectomy for uterine benign diseases, and most of the patients who were sexually active before the surgery experienced the same or better sexual functioning after the surgery. An important solution for making these women ready to face with postoperative sexual complications is to train them on the basis of needs assessment in order that the patients undergoing hysterectomy be ready and capable of coping with the complications, and their sexual functioning improves after the surgery.

BACKGROUND: Many factors impact on marital satisfaction. Related factors include demographic factors, assisted reproductive techniques, psychological health, quality of life, psychological, socioeconomic and family support, and sexual function. METHODS: This study is a literature review of research studies conducted on factors associated with marital satisfaction in infertile couples. The current literature review search was undertaken using multiple databases selected from articles pertinent to the study. The selection of subjects was undertaken from1990 through 2015. The methodological quality was analyzed based on a checklist adopted from a systematic review. Quality assessment of full text studies was finally carried out by two reviewers. RESULTS: The initial search yielded a list of 445 papers, and then reviewers studied titles and abstracts. Thereafter, 69 papers were incorporated, and researchers reviewed summaries of all of the searched articles. Finally, the researchers utilized the data gained from 64 full articles so as to compile this review paper. Reviewing the studies conducted on marital satisfaction, they classified related findings into 6 categories: demographic factors, using fertility assisting methods, psychological health, life quality, economic, social, and family support, and sexual function. CONCLUSION: The results of this review article depicted that various factors play role in creating marriage life satisfaction in an infertile couple, so that paying attention to them can play an important role in continuing their treatment. Thus, to identify such factors is considered essential in their treatment protocol highly based on culture. Of the drawbacks of this research is that it has tried at best to employ the studies belonging to diverse countries with different cultures. Also, the number of the papers was considerably limited.

Background: Adolescence is an important stage in human life span. Physiologic changes associated with puberty manifest themselves in often complex and bizarre ways to which girls show different reactions. This study aims to explore to puberty experiences in adolescent girls who live in the city of Sari in Iran. Methods: The present study is a qualitative study of content analysis. Sampling took place in the city of Sari, Iran and was objective focused in accordance with qualitative studies. Participants were 38 girls of 12–20 years old who had at least experienced 3 menstrual cycles. Data was collected by means of focus group and in-depth interviews. Results: As follows, Seven main themes were extracted from the interviews are follows: Menarche as the most unpleasant event in puberty, getting nervous about and ashamed of bodily changes, psychological changes, discordance with parents, sexual orientation and the need for education on this issue, scholastic dysfunction and religious considerations. Conclusion: The results showed that for the majority of the participants puberty was an unpleasant experience. Most of them were in need of education on how to go about the issues surrounding puberty. The society, families and of course the adolescents themselves are responsible to work together in order to create an atmosphere in which correct information on puberty and the associated issues are readily accessible.