The Efficacy of Psychosocial Occupational Therapy Services on Quality of life of Chronic Pschiatric Patents

Objective: Quality of life has recently been recognized as an important goal of health care in psychiatry. In this study quality of life of chronic psychiatric patients was evaluated after psychosocial occupational therapy interventions. Materials & Methods: This study is interventional and quasi experimental. Twoenty four chronic mental patients who had refered to SINA Daily Center as intervention group and fifty chronic mental patients as control group were selected by simle and convenient sampling. The instrument was Wisconsin Quality of Life Client Questionnaire that included 8 subscales. Occupational therapy services consisting group therapy, activity therapy and art therapy, according to center’ plane, were performed during 3 months (2 times in week, 90 minutes in each session) for intervention group. Independent T test & Paired T test were used for data analysis. Results: There was no significant difference between two groups in parts of QOL before intervention, but after intervention, significant differences were observed in mean scores of satisfaction level, occupational activities, psychological well–being, physical health and total quality o life (P<0.001), also social relation (P=0.005) and economic situation (P=0.003).There was no significant difference between two group in symptoms (P=0.277) and activity of daily living (P=0.020) after intervention. Conclusion: Psychosocial occupational therapy services are effective on satisfaction level and quality of life of chronic psychiatric patients

The Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Body Image Attitudes in Women

Objective: Sociocultural emphasis and increased interest in physical attractiveness and current attitudes body structure have increased body image dissatisfaction among women. The prevalence of body image dissatisfaction is linked with various psychological disorders and disturbances such as low self-esteem, depression and other disorders. The present study investigated the short program aerobic exercise effects on body image among women. Materials & Methods: In this interventional and quasi experimental study, 82 females among 150 women (18-45 years old) referred to Enghelab and Gol sports clubs in Tehran were selected by convenient and simple sampling based on inclusive and exclusive criteria and randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. They did not participate in any exercise in last 3 months and also they did not have any physical disease and meet criteria for deficit of body image attitudes. Data collection was done by using demographic and Multidimensional Body Self-Relation Questionnaire. The intervention group participated in aerobic exercise program. These sessions lasted 3 hours per week for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed by Chi–Square, Paired T and Independent T tests. Results: There were significant differences between two groups after intervention in sub items of body image including: self-appearance evaluation (P<0.001), self-appearance orientation (P<0.001), health orientation (P=0.003), illness orientation (P=0.002), but their fitness evaluation (P=0.141), self-fitness orientation (P=0.888), health evaluation (P=0.072), self-body satisfaction (P=0.082), overweight preoccupations (P=0.167) and self-assesed weight (P=0.156) did not change clearly. Conclusion: Short periods of aerobic exercise can effectively promote body image attitudes among women, and exercise can be used as a method of treatment in occupational therapy of the disorder