Background: With the increasing number of elderly people in the world, usage of concepts and terminology related to this phenomenon has substantially increased. One concept in this context is successful aging. The purpose of the present study is to extract and introduce a common concept to be used in studies on measuring successful aging. Methods: This is a review study. First, by searching the databases of Magiran, Noormags, Medlib, Irandoc, Iranmedex, Barakat Knowledge Network System, Civilica, SID, ISI Web Of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and search engines, Google Scholar and Elmnet as well as using standard keywords such as elder, elderly, aging, and successful aging, all related published articles during the period 1995 to 2017 were retrieved. A total of 3417 documents were retrieved. By removing 3390 unrelated, duplicate and unusable documents, 27 articles were included in the study after quality control. Results: The findings of the study were categorized in three areas: "defining successful aging by focusing on dimensions", "successful aging principles" and "factors influencing successful aging". Reviewing various studies, we found that the definition of successful aging deals with cognitive action, perception, control, life satisfaction, and ethics. Successful aging is also defined as having inner feelings of happiness and satisfaction with life for the present and the past. Sometimes successful aging is also considered to be survival with health. Conclusion: Health care professionals as community health supporters can use the results from the present study for providing the grounds for successful aging. Then, they can use the designed successful aging program for preserving and promoting active and healthy aging for every elderly person in old age.

CONTEXT: Quality of life is significant in all stages of life, including within pregnancy. The hormonal, emotional, psychological, and physical factors specific to pregnancy can affect and threaten the quality of life of pregnant mothers. AIMS: This study sought to investigate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and related factors among pregnant women SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was performed on 300 pregnant women who were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy without any risk of high-risk pregnancy covered by a community health center in Yazd, Iran, between 2018 and 2019. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The required data were collected using demographic questionnaire and HRQoL (SF-12v2) questionnaire STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were analyzed using SPSS 18 software and ANOVA statistical tests ( P < 0.05). RESULTS: Physical dimension of quality of life of pregnant women had the mean and standard deviation of 43.7 ± 7.3 and that psychological dimension had the mean and standard deviation of 31.5 ± 11.8. Physical dimension of quality of life was significantly correlated with maternal age, gestational age, body mass index before 12 weeks of pregnancy, mother's education and job as well as spouse's level of education ( P < 0.05). Furthermore, the psychological dimension of quality of life was significantly correlated with gestational age, mother's education and occupation as well as spouse's level of education ( P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: According to the findings, attention to physical and psychological aspects of quality of life of pregnant women and demographic factors affecting it is essential for improving maternal and child health during and after pregnancy.

Introduction: The most important risk factors for type II diabetic patients are poor nutrition, low physical activity, smoking and obesity indicating an inappropriate lifestyle. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the health promoting lifestyle in type II diabetic patients compared with healthy people. Patients and Methods: The study was descriptive-analytic with two case-control groups carried out on 150 type II diabetic patients and 150 healthy people. Data were collected using demographic characteristics questionnaire and health promoting lifestyle profile II (HPLII). Results: There was a significant difference between the lifestyle of type II diabetic patients and healthy people (P<0.001). Additionally, there were significant differences regarding lifestyle dimensions between physical activity, nutrition and stress management in type II diabetic patients compared with healthy people (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the dimensions of spiritual growth (P=0.074), communication with others (P=0.363) and health responsibility (P=0.582). Conclusion: This study showed the effective role of lifestyle components in the development of type II diabetes. It is recommended to prevent or manage type II diabetes, through emphasizing on maintaining lifestyle and its dimensions.

Recycling is a waste management process that has attracted a lot of attention for helping protect the environment. The current research aims to determine the effect of an intervention based on the Health Promoting Schools model (Albanian’s HPSM) on the recycling behaviors of primary school students. In this study, 413 primary school students in Maragheh, Iran, were randomly divided into a test group (n = 207) and a control group (n = 206). The educational intervention consisted of seven 45-minute teaching sessions and eight promotion programs for the students, two discussion sessions for the parents and two group educational sessions for the teachers. The tools used included a researcher-made questionnaire with items on awareness, attitude, performance, and participation in source-separated recycling. The validity and reliability of this tool were also measured. The questionnaires were completed in two stages in both groups, including before and three months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. The significance level was considered to be P < 0.05. After the intervention, a significant difference was observed in the mean scores of awareness, attitude, performance, and participation in terms of recycling among the students in the test group compared to before the intervention (P < 0.05). The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, performance, and participation also differed significantly after the intervention between the teachers and parents in the test group and the control group (P < 0.05). The use of Albanian’s Health-Promoting Schools (HPS) approach is effective in improving source-separated recycling behaviors in primary school students.