A national school-based screening program for mental health problems among children aged 6 to 12 years in Iran:scale development and psychometric evaluation

Schools are an ideal setting in which to measure and promote mental health difficulties. The aim of present study was to develop the Nemad Electronic Mental-Health Assessment Devices for Children (NEMAD-C) aged 6 to 12 years in Iran. A sample of parents and teachers (N = 10,163) were recruited to complete the parent and teacher reports. Totally, explorative and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the eight-factor model provides a better fit for both parental report and teacher report versions. Results revealed a screening tool consisting of eight dimensions: child abuse risk, self-harm, anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, academic achievement deficit, and self-regulation. Findings showed that the internal consistency coefficients of the subscales were high, and convergent validity was evidenced by significant correlations with theoretically related constructs. Therefore, the NEMAD-C has adequate reliability and validity and could be used for multi-dimensional assessment of mental health problems in Iran

A Web-Based Database for Drawings of Gods: When the Digitals Go Multicultural

This original web-based database was developed at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) as part of the international research project "Drawings of gods", which explores children's representations of supernatural agents. Its primary purpose is to store and organize data and metadata to be easily accessible to all affiliated researchers. However, anyone interested in the matter can view the drawings, as they were made publicly available. At present, our corpus is composed of over 5,100 drawings collected in different parts of the world (i.e., Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Romania, USA, and Iran) and yet constantly developing

Designing a model of family-oriented psychological strategies and evaluating its effectiveness on the spiritual vitality of secondary school students

Background and Aim: Spiritual vitality, a combination of the characteristics of spirituality and vitality will play an effective educational role in the mental health of the individual and society. This research aimed to design a family-centered psychological strategies model and evaluate its effectiveness on students' spiritual vitality. Methods: The research was based on the type of mixed data of sequential exploratory type in two qualitative and quantitative parts using thematic analysis method based on prism model and quasi-experimental type of pre-test-post-test with a control group and follow-up stage. The studied population in the qualitative section 1) Sand analysis with a systematic review of theoretical foundations and empirical background 2) Participants include a) university professors; b) The experts of the office of Parents and teachers association and in the quantitative section were female students of the second year of high school and their parents in Tehran. The sample size was calculated as 18 students in the qualitative part using the theoretical saturation method and 90 students and their parents in the quantitative part according to Cochran's formula. The sampling method in the qualitative part of the non-probability method was a targeted chain type, and in the quantitative part, it was a targeted type. The measurement tool was used in the qualitative part of the systematic review of theoretical foundations and experimental background, and semi-structured interviews with professors and experts, and in the quantitative part, the spiritual vitality questionnaire of Afrooz et al. (2019) was used. The method of data analysis was used in the qualitative part based on the thematic analysis method, and in the quantitative part, mixed analysis of variance test, Bonferroni post hoc test, and correlated t-test were used.  Results: The results of the research showed: 1) family-centered psychological strategies including 10 strategies: cognitive game-making strategy, relaxation training, self-awareness strategy, communication strategy, problem-solving strategy, stress management strategy, coping strategy and conflict resolution strategy, anger control strategy, critical thinking strategy and time management strategy. 2) According to the calculated strategies, theoretical bases, and analysis of interviews, the conceptual model of family-centered psychological strategies was designed and based on the conceptual model, theoretical foundations, and according to the opinion of experts in this field by integrating the cognitive-behavioral approach and the life skills program, the operational plan of the model of family-centered psychological strategies was compiled and adjusted. 3) Its validity was reviewed and confirmed based on the opinion of 30 experts in this field according to Lincoln and Goba indices, and it indicated the validity and validity of the program. Conclusion: The results show that the family-centered psychological strategies intervention program increased the spiritual vitality of students and their parents, and these results were stable in the three-month follow-up, indicating that the psychological intervention program has the necessary reliability and validity

Reliability and factor structure of brief emergency department patient satisfaction scale

Patient satisfaction (PS) is an important factor for both patients and healthcare professionals. Psychometrically sound assessment of PS is of absolute importance for quality improvement purposes particularly in private hospitals. One of the PS instruments with high reliability and validity is the Brief Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction Scale (BEPSS). This study aimed to investigate the factor structure of BEPSS in a private hospital. A total of 270 emergency patients from a private hospital filled the questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of BEPSS. General-factor and five-factor models of the instrument were compared. Internal consistency of the scale was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The five-factor solution of the BEPSS had higher indices of fit and was psychometrically more appropriate. The factor structure was consistent with the original solution. All subscales were internally consistent. Cronbach’s alphas ranged between 0.59 and 0.88 for the five subscales. As a result, BEPSS is a valid and reliable instrument in order to be used in private hospitals and clinics. It may serve as a regular PS evaluation tool, which assesses five domains of PS in emergency rooms or for research purposes

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised in Iran

Background: The comparison of physical appearance may play an important role in many body-related variables. The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (PACS-R) is a recently developed instrument for measurement of physical appearance comparisons in a number of contexts. The aim of the present study was to validate the Persian version of this scale.Methods: The scale was administered following a standard back-translation procedure. The sample consisted of 206 female university students. The Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), Life Orientation Test (LOT), Interest in Aesthetic Rhinoplasty Scale (IARS), and Body Mass Index (BMI) were used for assessment of concurrent validity. The factor structure of the scale was investigated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), bivariate correlation coefficients, and one-sample t-test were used in SPSS software for statistical analysis. Effect sizes were also computed in comparisons between the Iranian sample and the American sample on which the scale was developed. Moreover, the reliability of the scale was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha.Results: All items had adequate psychometric qualities in item analysis. The instrument was internally consistent (alpha = 0.97) and one-dimensional. It was positively correlated with BMI and interest in aesthetic rhinoplasty. Furthermore, PACS-R was inversely associated with optimism and body appreciation. Cross-cultural comparisons suggested that Iranian female participants had lower scores in physical appearance comparison.Conclusion: The Persian version of the PACS-R is a reliable and valid psychometric scale and may be used in clinical and research settings.</div

The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavior Therapy of Impulse Control on Reduction of Impulsiveness, Crave of Usage and Addiction Severity among Crack Users

Introduction: The present study was done in order to study of the effectiveness of CBT of impulse control on the reduction of impulsiveness, crave of usage and addiction severity of Crack users. Method: In a quasi experimental design 30 Crack addict users who were treating with Methadone in a clinic selected by interview method and consideration of entrance criterions. Then they allocated to two groups (15 subjects for each group) as a witness and experimental groups. The experimental group was under Methadone drug therapy and CBT of impulse control for 8 sessions, and 60 min for each session. But witness group was under Methadone drug therapy and there was not any other intervention. All participants in research were examined before and after treatment by three scales namely: Bart's Impulsiveness Scale, Tifani's Crave Usage, and Addiction Severity Index. MANCOVA was run for analyzing of data. Results: The results showed that significant difference between two groups on impulsiveness subscales crave usage, and addiction severity (except of medical status, job status, law status, and family status). Conclusion: It can say CBT of impulse control can be effective on the reduction of impulsiveness, crave usage and addiction severity in Crack users

Psychological and Social Roots of Academic Exhaustion of High School Students in Hormozgan Province: Developing a Model of The Education Sustainability

The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological and social roots of adolescents leaving school with a view to developing a model of survival of high school students to the end of high school in the education cycle in Hormozgan province. The present study is one of the basic researches in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of data collection method. Also, based on the nature of the data, the mixed type with the exploratory sequence design is used. Two communities are used for the qualitative part. The first population consists of 40 dropout students in four cities in provinces that are selected by simple random sampling. The second group consists of education experts and school counselors and student’ parents, from whom 10 people are selected by purposive sampling. Two communities are used for the quantitative part of the research. The first population consists of drop-out students from all cities of the province. Also, the second community consists of experts in the field of education and school counselors of Hormozgan province and parents. For the main study, 300 dropouts in the first and second secondary schools, 40 educational experts, 40 school counselors and 20 parents are selected by cluster random sampling. Semi-structured interviews are used to collect information in the qualitative section and a researcher-made questionnaire was used in the quantitative section. According to the findings of the quality department, the most important factor in the dropout of students are related to the financial and economic problems of families and in later degrees the importance of school, the behavior of school staff and teachers, cultural problems of the family and living environment. In general, the research findings have supported the role of economic, family and cultural factors in academic failure or dropout. The development of strategies for barriers removal of academic failure lead to a model of in schools enthusiasm in the province

The effect of bilingualism on letter and category fluency tasks in primary school children : advantage or disadvantage?

The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of bilingualism on letter and category fluency tasks. Participants were 1,600 monolingual and bilingual children from three cities in Iran: Tehran (Persian monolinguals), Tabriz (Turkish–Persian bilinguals), and Sanandaj (Kurdish–Persian bilinguals). We separately presented nine Persian letters and thirty-one categories to the participants, and asked them to generate as many words as possible using each of these initial letters and categories within a maximum of three minutes. Bilingual children generated more words than monolingual children in the letter fluency task; this effect was more pronounced in Grade 1 and for Turkish–Persian bilinguals. However, Persian monolinguals generated significantly more words than both bilingual groups in the category fluency task. Thus, bilingualism can be of both advantage and disadvantage, and produce a dissociative effect. We discuss the results on the basis of the specific nature and different cognitive demands of letter and category fluency tasks. We suggest that the degree of language proficiency of bilinguals should be considered as an important variable in future research on bilingualism

Research Paper: Effect of Play-based Therapy on Metacognitive and Behavioral Aspects of Executive Function: A Randomized, Controlled, Clinical Trial on the Students With Learning Disabilities

Introduction: Although the effect of educational methods on executive function (EF) is well known, training this function by a playful method is debatable. The current study aimed at investigating if a play-based intervention is effective on metacognitive and behavioral skills of EF in students with specific learning disabilities. Methods: In the current randomized, clinical trial, 49 subjects within the age range of 7 to 11 years with specific learning disabilities were randomly assigned into the intervention (25 subjects; mean age 8.5&plusmn;1.33 years) and control (24 subjects; mean age 8.7&plusmn;1.03 years) groups. Subjects in the intervention group received EF group training based on playing activities; subjects in the control group received no intervention. The behavior rating inventory of executive function (BRIEF) was administered to evaluate the behavioral and cognitive aspects of EF. The duration of the intervention was 6 hours per week for 9 weeks. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to compare mean changes (before and after) in the BRIEF scores between the groups. Results: The assumptions of multivariate analysis of covariance were examined. After controlling pre-test conditions, the intervention and control groups scored significantly differently on both the metacognition (P=0.002; effect size=0.20) and behavior regulation indices (P=0.01; effect size=0.12) of BRIEF.&nbsp; Conclusion: Play-based therapy is effective on the metacognitive and behavioral &nbsp;aspects of EF in students with specific learning disabilities. Professionals can use play-based therapy rather than educational approaches in clinical practice to enhance EF skills