Research in psychological health

A Study of the Role of Psychological Factors and Pain Related Variables in the Prediction of Emotional Distress in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Ata Tehranchi

Aim of present study was to study the role of psychological factors and pain-related variables in the prediction of the emotional distress in MS patients. Sample of the study was consisted of 249 patients with Multiple Sclerosis visiting M.S society of Isfahan and was selected through convenience sampling. Of this sample, 12 patients were not included because they didn’t meet the inclusion criteria. Participants answered to the questionnaires of pain-related self-efficacy, ego strength and multidimensional pain inventory. To analyze the data, Pearson correlation and stepwise regression analysis were used. Results indicated that ego strength and pain related self-efficacy could significantly and negatively predict the emotional distress in M.S patients. Social support also predicted the emotional distress significantly and positively. Findings of present research were consistent with the results of the previous studies that demonstrated the role of self-conceptions in predicting the emotional distress. Given the positive correlation between social support and emotional distress in this study that is consistent with some studies and that is different with some other studies, it is recommended to study the relationship between perceived and real social support and emotional distress in the future studies.

Efficacy of Group logo Therapy in the perceived Stress and life Expectancy in MS patients

Mahnaz Aliakbari Dehkordi

This study was performed to investigate the efficacy of group logo therapy in the perceived stress and life expectancy in M.S patients. This study was a semi-experimental (pretest, posttest whit control group) design. Of the MS patients of the Iranian MS society, a sample of 20 subjects were chosen through random sampling and considering the availability conditions and then were put into two experimental and control group (10 patients in the experimental group and 10 patients in the control group).Measurement tools of the study included Schneider‘s life expectancy questionnaire and Cohen’s perceived stress scale. Data was analyzed through analysis of covariance. Findings of the study indicated that group logo therapy had an effect on the reduction of perceived stress and on the increase of life expectancy. Given the obtained results indicating the effectiveness of logo therapy in the reduction of perceived stress and the increase of life expectancy among MS patients, the present study can be helpful in achieving an effective solution to the decrease of stress, despair and to the improvement of mental condition in general.

Effectiveness of Stress Management and Relaxation Training in Reducing the Negative Affect and in Improving the Life Quality of Women with Breast Cancer

Atiye Safarzade

The present study was an experimental design with follow-up and control group and it aimed at investigating the effectiveness of stress management and relaxation training (SMART) in reducing the Negative Affect and in improving the life quality of women with Breast Cancer. Population of the study included all the women with breast cancer who visited Mostafa Khomeyni Hospital and 18 patients were selected and were put randomly into experimental group (9 patients) and control group (9 patients) based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The B-SMART was administrated in 10 weekly sessions on the experimental group while there was no psychological treatment for the control group. PANAS questionnaire for Negative Affect, QLQ -C30, QLQ-Br23 questionnaires for quality of life, were completed by both groups before, after and 2 months after the program .The results obtained from the repeated measures analysis of variance showed the significant reduction of negative affect and improvement of the some life quality subscales of the experimental group in comparison to the control group which was stable during the 2 months follow-up.

Comparison of the Brief Behavioral Activation Treatment and Meta-cognitive Therapy in the Reduction of the Symptoms and in the Improvement of the Quality of Life in the Major Depressed Patients

Hadi parhoon

This research aims to investigate the effectiveness and to compare the brief behavioral activation treatment and meta-cognitive therapy in the reduction of the symptoms and in the improvement of the quality of life in the major depressed patients. Using a pre-test post-test experimental design along with control group and also conventional sampling method, 34 female subjects, being evaluated according to DSM-IV-TR by the psychiatrist, were randomly divided into two experimental groups and a control group namely group under short-term behavioral activation treatment, group under meta cognitive therapy and control group. The experimental groups were studied for two months .BDI-II, HRSD, WHOQOL-BREF were given to the subjects before and after treatment and at the 3 month follow up period. The results were analyzed using multi-variable covariance analysis, Tokay post hoc test, and T-test. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of the two methods of treatment. The findings not only confirmed the effectiveness of the two methods of treatment in the reduction of symptoms and improvement of the quality of life in depressed patients, but they also showed the considerable preference of the short-term behavioral activation treatment over the meta cognitive therapy at the end of the treatment and also follow-up period. Both methods of treatment were effective in the reduction of depression symptoms, and given the preference of short-term behavioral activation treatment over the meta cognitive therapy, this method (short-term behavioral activation) can be used as a selected method for depression treatment.

Effectiveness of the Self-Differentiation Training in Reducing the Degree of Anxiety in the Children of Divorced Parents

Somayeh Kazemian

This study was conducted to assess the influence of the self-differentiation training on the reduction of the degree of anxiety in girl students of divorced parents. Population of the study incorporated high school girl students of divorces parents in 6^th district of Tehran city. Considering this, of the high schools of the 6^th district of Tehran city, a school was selected randomly and a list of its students with divorced parents was provided. Then, 16 students were selected randomly and were put into two groups of eight and completed Cattle anxiety inventory and self-differentiation questionnaire. Then, 45-minutes sessions (two sessions in one week) was performed in the experimental group .In this study, pretest, posttest with control group design was used and the data was analyzed through multivariable analysis of variance. Results of the study showed that self-differentiation training was effective in the reduction of the anxiety of students with divorce parents with 95 percent of assurance. Based on the results of the study, it is suggested to the counselors and psychologists to use the group self-differentiation training as a useful method for the treatment of students’ anxiety.

Family Structure, Parental Monitoring and Affiliation with Delinquent Peers among Male Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Adolescents

Ali Mohammad Nazari

The aim of the current study was to investigate and compare the family structure, parental monitoring and affiliation with delinquent peers among the male delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. It has also considered the interactions between these factors. In this Cross-sectional study, 96 delinquent adolescents and 91 non-delinquent adolescents, chosen through a convenient sampling in Tehran, completed family structure, parental monitoring and affiliation with delinquent peers questionnaires. Data was analyzed using independent sample T-test, Chi square test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Given the results of the independent sample T-test, the two groups were significantly different in terms of parental monitoring and affiliation with delinquent peers. Using Chi square test, the findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents in terms of family structure. Moreover, adolescents in broken families in comparison to the adolescents in intact families reported less monitoring by their parents .The results obtained from the current study were in line with the results of the previous research and showed that distress in family structure, that weak parental monitoring and that affiliation with delinquent peers had a significant role in the delinquency phenomenon. Therefore, it seems necessary to consider these factors as the influential factors promoting delinquency.

Self-Control: Unidimensional or Multidimensional Capacity? Distinction between the Inhibitory and Initiatory Facets among students of Tehran University

Mahdi Reza Sarafraz

With the development of Brief Self-Control Scale most studies in this field has used it widely for the measurement of the general capacity of self-control. Discordant findings on the adaptiveness of self-control have brought about doubt concerning unidimensionality of this scale. The aim of the present study was to investigate the factor structure of BSCS in Iran. 247 Iranian university students (188 women, 53 men and 6 undefined) completed the following scales: BSCS, Rumination Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Vitality Scale, & Anxiety and Depression Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that one-factor structure of BSCS did not fit the data well. Explanatory factor analysis (EFA) proposed two-factor structure of the scale that fit the data well and performed better than one-factor structure in a new CFA. The results were discussed through considering the viewpoints concerning the two facets of self-control and they confirmed the need for reviewing the theories and research on the inhibitory and initiatory facets of self-control.