Hospital Practices and Research

Abstract Background: Students who have lost a parent often experience low levels of self-efficacy and quality of academic life due to the psychological distress caused by this loss.
Objectives: The study aimed to determine if positive psychology training could improve the self-efficacy and academic performance of students who had lost a parent.
Methods: This quasi-experimental research adopted a pretest-posttest design with a two-month follow-up. The study focused on female senior high school students in Ahvaz, Iran, who had lost a parent in 2022. Forty eligible students were selected through purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The participants in the experimental group received a ten-week positive psychology training intervention, consisting of weekly 90-minute sessions. The control group served as a no-intervention comparison group. The research data, collected using questionnaires on self-efficacy and quality of academic life, were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS-23.
Results: The results showed that positive psychology training significantly affected the self-efficacy and quality of academic life in participants (P<0.001). The positive psychology group exhibited significantly higher mean post-test scores on both self-efficacy (83.90 ± 7.56) and quality of academic life (146.40 ± 10.64) compared to the control group (45.20 ± 5.35 and 101.05 ± 6.88, respectively).
Conclusion: The study found that positive psychology training can significantly improve the self-efficacy and quality of academic life of students who have experienced the loss of a parent. This suggests that such interventions could be beneficial for supporting the overall well-being and academic success of these students.

Abstract Background: Healthcare workers are in close contact with patients and have serious responsibilities for the health and life of people. Moreover, dissatisfaction of employees with their jobs has a negative impact on the quality of services and ultimately leads to dissatisfaction of patients.
Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between work engagement and professional ethics with organizational intelligence in healthcare workers through the mediating role of organizational support.
Methods: The statistical population included all healthcare workers of Ahvaz (Iran) in 2022, 137 of whom were selected through convenience sampling. In this descriptive-correlational study, the Pearson correlation coefficient and mean structural equation modeling were employed for data analysis. The research instruments included the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Professional Ethics Questionnaire, the Organizational Intelligence Questionnaire, and the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support.
Results: According to the findings, there was a positive relationship between professional ethics and organizational support (β = 0.27, P = 0001). There was a positive relationship between organizational intelligence and work engagement in healthcare workers (β = 0.22, P = 0.003).  There was also a direct relationship between organizational intelligence and organizational support (β = 0.51, P = 0.001), and a direct relationship between organizational support and work engagement (β = 0.35, P = 0.001). There was an indirect relationship between professional ethics and work engagement (β = 0.05, P = 0.002) as well as organizational intelligence and work engagement (β = 0.10, P = 0.001) mediated by organizational support.
Conclusion: The final model had a good fit. The present study's results should be considered an essential step toward identifying the factors affecting the job performance of healthcare workers.