Self-esteem, Mental Health Aspects, and Academic Achievement

The aim of the present study is to identify the relationship between self- esteem with mental health aspects and academic achievement. For this purpose, 525 students (224 girls and 301 boys) were randomly selected and studied. The results showed a significant relationship between self - esteem and mental health (A, B, C, D, and in general) aspects in both sexes generally. Of comparing the observed correlation of the two groups (concerning above mentioned variables) did not show a significant difference. It should also be mentioned that no significant relation was observed between academic achievement and self - esteem, whereas with mental health in general and anxiety and sleeplessness a significant relation was observed both in general and in boys group. Comparing the results of two groups showed a significant difference in self-esteem and critical depression variables between two groups showed significant difference among the other research variables. The interactive effect of sex and educational level was only significant in social dysfunction

Investigation of Psychometric Features of Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ)

The aim of present study was to investigate some psychometric features of quality of life questionnaire (Q L Q). QLQ developed by Evance and Cope in 1989, for assessing adult quality of life. It includes 16 dimensions and totally consisting of 192 questions. The Major assumption of the questionnaire is that the behavior of adults in response to particular aspects of environment could be representative of his/ her quality of life. Thus QLQ has tried to identify a multidimensional measure of an individual's behavior .In this study 400 teachers (200 men, 200 women) were selected through stepwise clustering procedure from different schools of Tehran north south east, and west regions. Obtained results showed appropriate Chronbach Alpha for total as well as for the 1st and 2nd parts of questionnaire. The reliability of the test and correlation between the two halves of the questionnaire was also adequate. Test – retest coefficient of correlation for all the 16 sub-scales including QLQ were positive & meaningful. On the other hand, following author's view, each and every item in a sub-scale having more correlation with sub-scales other than its own was omitted, and finally 163 items remained in the questionnaire. Comparing results between men and women as well as Iranian and non-Iranian samples indicating a significant difference for some sub-scales, although the difference between Iranians and non-Iranians for thirteen sub-scales are more obvious. Norm selection for Iranians was done on the basis of original items in the questionnaire and more over, omitted items are presented in related tables

Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Illness Attitude Scale (IAS) for Iranian Samples

Present research aimed to explore factor structure and psychometric properties of the Illness Attitude (IA) Scale. The study is therefore, performed through three stages. In the first stage, for parallel factor analysis, 929 Shahed University students, selected through cluster sampling, filled out the questionnaire during the academic year 2001-2002. At this stage, the IA scale conceptualized as a five – factor measure i.e. fear of illness and disease, frequency of treatment, hypochondriacally beliefs and symptom effects, health behavior, and thanaphobia. In the second stage, the reliability of the scale was measured by determining Cronbach Alpha and reliability coefficient by test-retest and mean inter-item correlation. Results showed an appropriate reliability for the scale. The third stage of the study focused on discriminant and construct validity of IAS scale. Results showed that the following four factors fear of illness and disease, frequency of treatment, hypochondriacal beliefs and symptom effects, and health behavior, can significantly discriminate psychological patients from healthy subjects which is considered as an appropriate discriminant validity of these four factors. In order to determine the construct validity of IAS Scale, Pearson’s Product-Moment correlation between this scale and three other scales i.e. hypochondriacal subscale of MMPI-2, Bodily complaints subscale of SCL-90-R and bodily symptoms subscale of GHQ was calculated. The result indicated an appropriate construct validity of the IAS factors except for the thanaphobia factor. As a result, the present research provides the evidence for rightness of factor structure, and the acceptable reliability of these factors, as well as emphasizing the validity of the factors except the thanaphobia factor

Comparing the Influence of Drug Ther-apy and Neurofeedback Training on Reduction of Anxiety Symptoms and Life Quality of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Patients

The main goal of this paper is focused on comparison of influence of drug therapy and neurofeedback training on reduction of anxiety symptoms and life quality of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients. For this purpose, 16 visitors in one of psychiatry centers in Tehran were studied who received GAD diagnosis and did not suffer other psychological disorders according to psychiatrist visit and diagnostic criteria within fourth edition of statistical and diagnostic guide revised text of psychological disorders )DSM-IV-TR( (8 persons in neurofeedback training and 8 ones in drug therapy). Patients in both groups were surveyed and studied in pre-test and post-test steps through GAD seven-question scale (GAD-7) and life quality questionnaire (PWI-A). Persons in neurofeedback training group received fifteen 30-minute sessions (three sessions per week) on alpha wave increase and those in drug therapy were treated under supervision of physicians by anti-anxiety drugs (SSIRs) for one year. Record and training of alpha wave activity was accomplished in O1 or O2 and patients received audio feedback for increase of alpha range up to higher than determined threshold. Wilcoxon and Mann Witney tests were applied for descriptive analysis of data. Research findings show that neurofeedback training led to increase of alpha wave in the receiver group. In addition, influence of neurofeedback training on reduction of GAD symptoms in this group is considerably higher than that of drug therapy group. There was no meaningful difference between the two groups on change of patients' life quality index

Effectiveness of Educating Play Ther-apy Based on Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) According Landreth Model to Mothers on Reducing Child Behavioral Prob-lems

The psychologists for reducing child behavioral problems have suggested many different methods. Some of these methods have focused on child, some on parents and the others on educational environments. The most prevalent way for changing the child behaviors has been play therapy.In the last decades, play therapy has been focused more on the therapist-child relationship, whereas some methods have been attended to educat-ing play therapy skills to parents as an intermediate for improvement of child behaviors. One of these methods is child-parent relationship thera-py (CPRT).The aim of this research is surveying the efficiency of CPRT on reducing child problematic behavior. For surveying this aim, some preschool children aged 6-7 were assessed in two phases. In the first stage 73 chil-dren have been assessed using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), that 25 children had behavioral problems. 13 of their mothers were ready to contribute in this research that 6 mothers have been randomly assigned to experiment group and 7 to control group.All of these mothers filled the CBCL in pre and post test situations. The experiment group faced with play therapy skills training program in ten two-hour session and the control group waited for an optional delayed treatment. Pre and post test data was analyzed with U-man witney test and the results showed that CPRT has caused a meaningful reduction in children's behavioral problems in experiment group than control one

Investigating Psychometric Properties of “NEO-Five Factor Inventory” (NEO-FFI)

The major aim of this research was to investigate psychometric properties of “NEO-Five Factor Inventory” (NEO-FFI). To this aim, after doing preliminary stages and resolving possible problems, the exploration of this scale was conducted in two studies: in the first study, in order to assess reliability using internal consistency, 604 undergraduate students of Tehran, Amirkabir and Shahed Universities (334= female and 270= male) with average age of 21.8 (sd=2.49) were selected by available sampling method. Students completed NEO-FFI. Results of this study indicated that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness had acceptable internal consistency in all subjects (higher than 0.70). Of course, Cronbach Alfa of Extroversion and Agreeableness were higher than suggested level for group comparisons (higher than 0.5). Therefore, only openness lacked acceptable internal consistency. In the second study, in order to assess construct validity of NEO-FFI, Pearson’s product-moment correlation was calculated for five factors of NEO-FFI and 9 facets of “Symptom Checklist-90- Revised” (SCL-90-R). Results of these analyses indicated that Neuroticism with all facets of SCL-90-R, Conscientiousness with all facets of SCL-90-R with the exception of paranoid thinking (Bonferroni correction not considered) and obsessive-compulsive facets (Bonferroni correction considered), Agreeableness and Extroversion with 3 and 7 facets of SCL-90-R (Bonferroni correction considered) had significant correlation. Openness did not show any significant correlation with facets of SCL-90-R. Besides, among these factors, only the relationships of Neuroticism with facets of SCL-90-R was a significant positive correlation and the remaining factors had not significant correlation or had significant negative correlation with facets of SCL-90-R. In conclusion, results of this study with respect to literature review about investigating psychometric properties of NEO-FFI in non-English cultures suggest need to investigate factor structure of this in Iranian population