Tabari Biomedical Student Research Journal

Background & Objectives: Attending to the public health of the students is im-
portant regarding the fact that they are the capitals of each country. Therefore, this
study was performed with the aim of evaluating the public health of the nursing and
midwifery students of the Babol University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 200 nursing and
midwifery students of Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2015, who were
selected through random sampling method. The data were collected using the
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this
questionnaire was calculated to be 0.89. The data were analyzed through the SPSS
version 18 using the descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), ANOVA,
and t-test.
Results: According to the results of the study, the mean public health was
42.1±86.27. The means of the physical symptoms, anxiety and sleep disorders,
social dysfunction, and depression symptoms were 37.3±63.5, 30.4±88.5,
64.4±20.10, and 36.5±97.3, respectively. In addition, the general health was found
to have a significant relationship with the parental education, economic status, and
living conditions (P<0.05). Nevertheless, this variable had no significant relationship
with the age, gender, marital status, and field of study (P>0.05). Furthermore,
the public health had a significant relationship with the subsections of the questionnaire
(i.e., physical symptoms, anxiety and sleep disprder, social dysfunction,
and symptoms of depression) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: As the findings of the present study indicated, the public health was
not at a desirable level among the participants of the study. Therefore, it is essential
to hold some programs targeted towards the provision of consultation, training, and
communication skills of life for this population.