شهرام جعفرزاده

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly and compare it between men and women. In this cross-sectional study, four elderly homes in the city of Ardabil were randomly selected (two male elderly homes and two female elderly homes) and then 60 elderly (36 female and 24 male) They were asked to answer the SF-36 questionnaire and then the data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software and descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that the mean scores of elderly residents of Ardabil in the nursing home in each of the eight sub-scales of the quality of life questionnaire were lower than those of non-elderly people in similar research. Also, the mean scores of these people's quality of life were lower than other elderly people in other studies, and they only had higher scores in terms of energy-fatigue. Another finding of this study was that elderly men had significantly higher scores in energy-fatigue subscales (t = 2.73, p = 0.008), emotional well-being (t = 2/05, p = 0.04) and physical pain (t = 0.22, p = 0.05). According to the results, it seems that the elderly residents of the elderly homes of Ardebil are not well-positioned in terms of quality of life. Although it is inevitable to reduce the quality of life in old age, failure to address the conditions of the elderly and their quality of life can impose material and immaterial costs on the society and these people themselves.

This research examined the relationship between video games and cognitive skills including critical thinking and creative thinking. This was an analytical and cross-sectional study. The population of the present research consisted of high school students of Ardebil in the academic year 2013-2014. A sample consisting of 105 students, (54 female and 51 male), was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. They filled out two questionnaires, namely the California Critical Thinking Skill Test (CCTST) and Critical Thinking Test (CT). The data collected from the questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS through one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as well as the Scheffe test. To conduct the analysis, the participants were divided into four groups based on the number of hours spent playing video games every day, namely no gaming, less than 1 hour, between 1-2 hours, and more than 2 hours of gaming; they were also divided into four groups based on the number of years they had been playing video games, namely no gaming, less than a year, 1-2 years, and more than 2 years. The results of the one-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in creativity between the four groups based on the hours spent playing and the number of years the subjects had been playing video games (P<0.05). The differences between the four groups in terms of critical thinking were also significant (P<0.05). The findings indicated that the individuals spending up to two hours playing video games on a daily basis had higher levels of creativity and critical thinking compared to non-gamers.