Zahra Kazempour - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Zahra Kazempour

LERU Doctoral Summer School 2019: Building Research Capacity and a Collaborative Global Community

Introduction: Information and media literacy (MIL) enables people to interpret and make informed ... more Introduction: Information and media literacy (MIL) enables people to interpret and make informed judgments as users of information and media, as well as to become skillful creators and producers of information and media messages in their own right. The purpose of this research was to determine the rate of media and information literacy among Isfahan University of Medical Sciences' students using Global Framework on MIL Indicators. Methods: This is an applied analytical survey research in which the data were collected by a researcher made questionnaire. This questionnaire was provided based on specialists' viewpoints and valid scientific works. Its validity and reliability were confirmed by Library and Information Sciences specialists and Chronbach's alpha (r=0.75) respectively. Statistical population consisted of all students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the samples were 375. Sampling method was random stratified sampling. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics (Independent T-test and ANOVA). Results: The findings showed that the mean level of media and information literacy among Isfahan University of Medical Sciences' students was 3.86±0.338 (higher than average). The highest mean were "valuing other people's scientific output" with 4.40±0.775 and the lowest mean were "transmission of information through formal presentations" with 3.15±1.23. The mean of "observance copyright "dimension was more than others with 4.22±0.466 and the lowest mean was "exchange of information" dimension with 3.62±0.744. Comparison between gender and married status and the rate of media and information literacy among Isfahan University of Medical Sciences' students showed no significant difference, but there was significant difference between educational degree and rate of media and information literacy. Conclusion: The results showed that the rate of media and information literacy among Isfahan University of Medical Sciences' students was higher than average. But students didn't have enough ability in transmission of information through formal presentations, presentation of scientific knowledge in written formats as well as start a new activity with little information. In general, all students and education practitioners should pay special attention to factors affecting in improving media and information literacy as a main capability in using printed and electronic media.

The Electronic Library, 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the use of electronic information resources and fac... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the use of electronic information resources and facilities by humanities scholars at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey of faculty from arts and humanities departments at the University of the Punjab was conducted. In total, 62 faculty and research staff participated.FindingsThe results correspond with previous studies conducted in other countries. The humanists still stick to the printed information sources but they pay good attention to electronic resources. Most of them have access to computer and internet at office and home. They are regular users of a variety of electronic technologies. Although faced with many problems, the humanists perceive that modern technology made their work easier.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based only on the humanities faculty in a large university of Pakistan. The survey should be replicated on a larger sample for generalizatio...

Iranian Journal of Information Processing & Management, 2007

Archives of Academic Emergency Medicine, 2020

By the beginning of COVID-19 crisis in China in late 2019, and its spread throughout the world in... more By the beginning of COVID-19 crisis in China in late 2019, and its spread throughout the world in early 2020, countries around the world experienced numerous problems (1).The outbreak of the new Coronavirus started in Wuhan, and this third epidemic of Coronaviruses expanded to the middle east promptly. . Therefore, the World Health Organization (WHO)Â expressed its concerns about the Coronavirus crisis (2). This crisis caused production and publication of large amounts of valid and invalid information, eventually leading to information obesity phenomenon. Information obesity can have many negative consequences on the general population, causing major problems for governments, especially if the amount of invalid information is too large. It is worth to mention that however almost impossible, controlling and monitoring media is a massive challenge for different governments. Hence, individuals should protect themselves against unreliable information, and pursue an authentic â€œinforma...

The domain of children's health is one of the essential parts of the health system. In crises... more The domain of children's health is one of the essential parts of the health system. In crises, one of the most vulnerable groups is children, and it is necessary to predict essential planning in advance to support them. Such programs need to be prepared to meet the many information needs of children in crisis; this information should be varied and tailored to the type of children's questions. In the Covid-19 crisis, children had different experiences as a sensitive group. They were forced to abandon many natural habits and activities and live and act with certain restrictions. These limitations themselves led to the formation of new information needs, as well as the typology of children's information. In this article, we try to describe and explain the authors' views about this type of information. Typology of children's information in crises helps professionals to identify the types of children's information needs and prepare themselves to respond to them. B...

BACKGROUND: The best mechanisms for medical librarians to be more involved in health, especially ... more BACKGROUND: The best mechanisms for medical librarians to be more involved in health, especially during crisis condition, and to expand their roles are using experiences of other individuals and performing new activities. This study aimed to identify the roles of medical librarians in the COVID-19 crisis in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was done by a qualitative content analysis method. Research participants in the first phase included whole scientific papers (19 documents) which had been published by medical librarians related to the COVID-19 issue and in the second phase 10 medical librarians involved in the COVID-19 who were interviewed and continued until data saturation. Data were collected through each interview, and data analysis was performed using content analysis method. Then, obtained information of the first and second phases was merged together, and codes, subcategories as well as main categories were formed. RESULTS: According to the results, 7 main catego...

Introduction: Today, the role of information is not deniable in decision-making, education, rese... more Introduction: Today, the role of information is not deniable in decision-making, education, research, advertisement, content production, etc. (1). In fact, information in health systems depends on time and demand specifications and is extremely important for reasons such as having short half-life, impact on health behavior, and sensitivity to death and life (2). Peoples’ need for health information is deeply different. Physicians, patients, hospital administrators, students and faculty members have different kinds of needs for information because of their specific goals (2). Understanding the type of information needs is a fairly long and complex process that is influenced by various factors. But the final goal of information seeking behavior is using retrieved information. This information is used for various reasons by beneficiaries and is influenced by various factors. In this letter, we aim to offer a conceptual and predictable framework of health information use. In this conce...

The present study mainly aims to demonstrate the weaknesses and strengths of using marketing prin... more The present study mainly aims to demonstrate the weaknesses and strengths of using marketing principles in academic libraries and finally presenting some important suggestions in order to improve their marketing. This study proceeds through expressing the current marketing situation of studied academic libraries from the view point of 4P model. In this regard, the current situation is analyzed using a researcher-made questionnaire, and then the problems and shortcomings are highlighted in the field of marketing in the view point of 4P model which in turn enables us to introduce suggestions to overcome them. This research indicates that marketing principles in the studied libraries are not in a good state. The situation of product dimension is a bit farther up middle state (3.23). Also, the Place dimension with total average of 2.97, Promotion dimension with total average of 2.63 and finally the Price dimension with total average of 1.59 are below the middle state. Therefore, trying ...

Journal of Health Administration

Journal of Health Administration, 2020

Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The valid clinical information can help health-care providers to make the right decisions and ena... more The valid clinical information can help health-care providers to make the right decisions and enable them to provide better services to patients.[1] In addition, valid clinical information helps clinicians to be more confident in their decisions. Therefore, access to and use of valid clinical information in a specific protocol format in addition to guarantee health-care specialists and patients’ rights can lead to lower costs for healthcare centers and increase the satisfaction of recipients (patients) and accuracy of clinicians in the therapeutic process. Given the importance of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and this fact that the outcome of this process will be clinical judgment, therefore, the use of clinical information for clinical professionals as a clinical judgment feed source is inevitable. In the Covid-19 crisis, clinicians are less likely to use the latest scientific evidence in diagnostic and therapeutic processes because of specific conditions such as lack of time, workload, insufficient time to read scientific papers and peer experiences, and lack of on-site information technology facilities. However, given the unknown dimensions of the virus, clinical professionals’ accessibility and their use of the latest scientific findings are very important. For example, some countries have already shared the results of its experiences and scientific findings with other countries, and this has been a crucial factor in preventing, diagnosing, and even treating large numbers of patients in other countries. By examining the articles published in databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus and even protocols developed by the World Health Organization and the countries Health Ministry, we can see the speed of articles publication. What should be done now to resolve updating issues of physician’s clinical information instantly (in the moment)? It should be said that due to the increasing speed of clinical information production in the health field, clinical professionals need to access the valid clinical information in the shortest possible time to make clinical decision with the least complications. To this purpose, the medical field is moving rapidly toward EBM and in addition to physicians’ clinical information literacy skills,[2,3] as a requirement and prerequisites for effective implementation of EBM process, it requires a clinical information update system. Based on this need, the authors of this article propose the designing a clinical information update system for clinicians on Covid-19.

Journal of Contemporary Medical Sciences

This is a commentary article, so it does not abstract.

Research on Information Science and Public Libraries, May 15, 2010

Acta Informatica Medica, 2015

Introduction: Necessity to establish a coherent and targeted research context in order to develop... more Introduction: Necessity to establish a coherent and targeted research context in order to development of any country is increasingly important. But the basic step in creating an effective research context would be enrichment motivation of researchers especially students and resolve barriers of research. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine barriers of research activities from the perspective of students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This is research. Data was collected with author made questionnaire. The study sample consisted of students from Isfahan medical university and sample size based on Krejcie and Morgan table was 357. Sampling was Stratified Random. The validity of questionnaire confirmed by Library and information professionals and reliability based on Cronbach`s Alpha was 0.933, respectively. The type of descriptive statistics was (percentage, frequency and mean) and inferential statistics (T-test, ANOVA, one-Sample Statistics) and SPSS software was used. Findings: Results showed that the mean of barriers to research activities among students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences was 3.89 ± 0. 483. The highest mean was related to density of students' curriculum (4.22± 0.968) and lowest mean related to lack of access to appropriate library resources. Also, the mean of research activities `s barriers, according to aspects showed that the mean in individual barriers level (4.06±0.635) was more than other aspects: social and cultural aspects (4.01± 0.661), economical aspect (4.04± 0.787) and organizational barriers (3.78±0.503). The lowest mean was related to organizational barriers. Also there is no difference between mean of research activities' barriers of student of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with regarded of gender, level of education and college. Conclusion: According to results of this research , although, the main barriers between students was individual barriers such as: lack of sufficient familiarity with research methods, insufficient experience in research and lack of familiarity with the terms of the articles in publication , but other aspects like economic, cultural , social and organizational was in bad condition too. Therefore it is suggested that workshops related to research methodologies is executed, like proposal writing, writing articles in university especially for students and administrators support student`s research activities , effectively.

Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 2015

Introduction: Research self-efficacy if the people's judgment of their abilities in order to orga... more Introduction: Research self-efficacy if the people's judgment of their abilities in order to organize and conduct meaningful research in different formats. The aim of this study is to determinate the rate of research self-efficacy among students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences based on Research Self-efficacy Scale. Materials and Methods: The method of this study is an applied survey method. Statistical population is all students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences and the sample size was calculated to be 361 samples based on Krejcie and Morgan table. Random sampling method was used with equal number of samples from every department. Data collection tool is Salehi et al. questionnaire (with 7 dimensions) with Likert scale (5 grades). Its validity and reliability were confirmed by Psychology and Research Method experts and Cronbach's alpha (r = 0.84) respectively. Data gathering method was direct visit to each department. The data was then analyzed using t-test and one-tailed ANOVA using SPSS 16 software. Results: The finding showed that among research self-efficiency dimensions research ethics dimension had the highest and quality research dimension had the lowest means. Furthermore comparing the research self-efficacy scores with demographic characteristics suggests that there is no significant difference between total score of research self-efficacy of different departments, genders or educational degrees (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Since the score of most of the research self-efficacy dimensions were, lower than average, holding periodical workshops, inclusion of necessary courses in the educational plan, forcing student to perform research activity such as writing articles in lower educational levels and improvement of research culture for students with the help of experienced professors are some of practical solutions, which can lead to increasing the motivation of the students for conducting efficient research.

Journal of education and health promotion, 2014

Media literacy is a 21(st) century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, anal... more Media literacy is a 21(st) century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms - from print to video to the Internet. Also, it builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy. The purpose of this research was to determine the rate of media literacy among Isfahan University of Medical Sciences' students using Iranian Media Literacy Questionnaire (IMLQ). This is a survey research in which the data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire. Its validity and reliability were confirmed by Library and Information Sciences specialists and Chronbach's alpha (r = 0.89), respectively. Statistical population consisted of all students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (7000 cases) and the samples were 364. Sampling method was random stratified sampling. Data were analyzed by descriptive (freque...