Goodenough-Harris Drawing a Man Test (GHDAMT) as a Substitute of Ages

Abstract Objective: Evaluation of concurrent validity of GHDAMT with the problem solving subscale of ASQ2 among 5 years old children was the objective of present research.Materials &Methods: In a cross sectional study 136 boy and 105 girl were selected randomly from childcares and tested with GHDAMT and ASQ2 to compare the concurrent validity of these tests in evaluation of cognition.Data was analyzed using SPSS.16/win.Results: The IQ mean difference in girls was 128±18.18 and in boys 118±18.50, which was statistically significant. There was no statistical significant correlation between GHDAMT and ASQ2. It was significant between IQ and mental age among children who had -2SD score in problem solving subscale, but  there was no correlation between children who had -1SD score.These findings revealed that the GHDAMT does not have acceptable validity and concurrent validity of the test was less than 0.3.Conclusions: In the current research, there is no statistical significant correlation between problem solving subscale of ASQ2 and mental age and IQ. So GHDAMT    can̕ t be used as a substitute of ASQ questionnaire; however, correlation of two tests in children with intellectual disability was meaningful. After further studies, it is possible to use GHDAMT as a proper tool for cognition evaluation of these children.Keywords: concurrent validity, The Goodenough-Harris drawing a man test, ASQ

Effekten av KBT-baserad coaching på säljstil, säljförmåga och arbetsprestation hos säljare.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur KBT-baserad psykologisk coaching kan påverka säljförmåga, säljstil och arbetsprestation hos säljare på ett större svenskt telekomföretag. Av de tolv säljare som ingick i studien fick sex genomgå coaching och övriga deltagare utgjorde en kontrollgrupp. Formulären Sales Orientation Customer Orientation (SOCO) och Selling Skills användes för att studera säljstil respektive säljförmåga före och efter coaching. Arbetsprestation mättes med hjälp av chefsskattningar. Resultaten visade att såväl coachinggruppen som kontrollgruppen utvecklade högre säljförmågor och arbetsprestation över tid. Deltagarna bedömde sig vara mer kunniga om sina produkter och konkurrenter, ha en större förmåga att presentera sina produkter och deras chefer bedömde att de presterade bättre i sitt arbete. Resultaten visar också att de observerade förändringarna sannolikt inte är orsakad av coaching som metod. Att samtliga deltagare utvecklas positivt avseende försäljningsskicklighet och arbetsprestation tyder på gemensamma orsaker som exempelvis säsongseffekter, interventionseffekter eller gruppgemensamma faktorer. Studien är den första som empiriskt studerar hur psykologiskt baserad coaching kan påverka säljstil, säljförmåga och arbetsprestation hos säljare.The purpose of the study was to examine the possible effects of psychologically based coaching on sales factors and work performance of salesmen working at a major telecommunication company in Sweden. Six of the participants received cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) based coaching and the remaining six participants comprised the control group. The Sales Orientation Customer Orientation SOCO and Selling Skills questionnaires were used to study selling orientation and selling skills respectively and manager ratings were used to study participant work performance. All studied variables were measured before and after coaching. The results show that the participants exhibited significantly higher selling skills and work performance over time. The participants estimated that they were more knowledgeable regarding their products and competitors, were better able to present their products and their managers estimated that their work performance was higher. The results also indicate that the observed changes probably are not caused by the method of coaching. The positive development in selling skills and work performance observed in the both groups of participants indicate that the positive effects observed are due to common causes such as seasonal effects, intervention effects or other group specific causes. The study is the first to empirically investigate the effects of coaching on selling orientation, selling skills and work performance in salesmen

The Efficacy of “Care for Child Development” Intervention on the Improvement of the Development Skills of Orphanage Children

ObjectivesDevelopment refers to the progressive enhancement of skills and functional capacity, i.e., qualitative changes in the child’s functions.The process of development begins before birth and continues throughout life. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the “Care for Child Development (CCD)” program on 4-42 months children’s developmental skills in orphanages.Materials & MethodsIn this study, two orphanages in the capitals of East and West Azerbaijan provinces were selected using the convenience sampling technique, and thirty children were included. Then, they were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups (each group, N=15). Next, after obtaining consent from the head of the orphanages, a group of volunteers from the healthcare center performed the CCD program, considering children’s chronological ages (4 to 42 months), for three sessions a week, with each session lasting two hours and it lasted for three months. At the end of the intervention process, the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development 3rd version (BSID-III) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-II (ASQ) were completed for the two intervention and control groups to compare them in the cognitive, motor, communication, and personal-social domains. ResultsComparing the two control and intervention groups using the T-test (difference in mean) indicates that except for the domain of cognitive skills (Bayley: P-value = 0.176), there was statistically a significant difference between the two groups in communication (ASQ: P-value= 0.001; Bayley: P-value = 0.003), motor (ASQ: P-value = 0.000; Bayley: P-value = 0.009), and personal-social (ASQ: P-value <0.000)skills.ConclusionIn the present study, it was concluded that it is required to apply interventions, including standard ones such as the CCD program in environments like orphanages, to enhance the developmental skills of those children living in them    

Designing Theory of Planned Behavior questionnaire and evaluation of its validity-reliability in order to assess the preventive behavior of mobile phone usage in girl students

زمینه و اهداف: امروزه تلفن همراه، از مؤلفه­هاي فرهنگي نسل جوان و نوجوان محسوب مي­شود. تلفن­های همراه یک نوع پرتو به نام میدان الکترومغناطیس را در هوا منتشر می­کنند که متشکل از امواج الکتریکی و مغناطیسی است؛ لذا مطالعه حاضر با هدف طراحی و روانسنجی پرسشنامه رفتار پیشگیرانه از عوارض استفاده از گوشی تلفن همراه بر دانش‌آموزان دختر شهرستان باغملک انجام شد. مواد و روش‌ها: این مطالعه نیمه تجربی بر روی 50 نفر از دانش آموزان دختر دوره متوسطه دوم (16تا 18ساله) منطقه شهری باغملک در دو گروه آزمون و شاهد به روش نمونه گیری تصادفی صورت گرفت. نمونه­هاي مورد بررسي طي سه مرحله با پرسشنامه محقق ساخته مورد ارزشیابي قرار گرفتند. آموزش به صورت مشاوره فردی با وسیله كمک آموزشي پمفلت ارائه شد. تمام مراحل مطالعه حاضر طبق موازین اخلاقی اجرا گردید. به دانش آموزان، اطمینان از محرمانه بودن اطلاعات داده شد. اطلاعات بدست آمده توسط نرم افزار SPSS16 تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته‌ها: همه 48 سؤال مربوط به پرسشنامه تئوری رفتار برنامه‌ریزی‌شده دارای روایی محتوایی خیلی خوب (79/0 تا 99/0) بود. شاخص ضریب آلفای کرونباخ (82/0 تا 91/0) و ضریب همبستگی درون رده‌ای به ترتیب برابر با 88/0 و 84/0 گزارش شد. نتيجه­ گيري: پرسشنامه رفتار پیشگیرانه از عوارض میکروبی و اشعه گوشی تلفن همراه بر اساس تئوری رفتار برنامه­ریزی شده دارای روایی و پایایی خیلی خوب است و قابلیت بکارگیری در فعالیت­های پژوهشی را دارد.Background and Aim: Today, mobile phones are one of the cultural components of the young and adolescents. Mobile phones emit a kind of beam called electromagnetic field in the air, which consists of electric and magnetic waves. The purpose of this study was therefore to design and evaluate the validity and reliability of a Preventive Behavior Questionnaire of Mobile Phone usage consequences on female students of Baghmalek County. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 50 female high school students (16 to 18 years old) in Baghmalek metropolitan area. The study included both experimental and control groups through random sampling. The samples were evaluated in three stages using a researcher-made questionnaire. The training was provided in the form of individual counseling with the help of a pamphlet training aid. All stages of the present study were conducted according to ethical standards. Students were assured that the information is confidential. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software. Results: All 48 questions related to the theory of planned behavior questionnaire had very good content validity (0.79 to 0.99). Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intra-class correlation coefficient were 0.88 and 0.84, respectively. Conclusion: The Preventive Behavior Questionnaire for mobile phone usage based on the Theory of Planned Behavior showed very good validity and reliability and can be used in research activities

The staffs’ understanding of the role of the health department website on health education in a university of medical sciences

BackgroundHealth related organizations have sought to design websites to provide various services, including access to relevant information by health care providers.AimsThe purpose of this study was to investigate the understanding of health care staff members of the role of the health sector website of Semnan University of Medical Sciences in their health education.Methods This cross –sectional study was performed on 369 employees of health care institutions affiliated to Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was developed.Results Mean score of the employees’ attitudes towards total characteristics of the health website were understanding of concepts of the health website was 3.65, for communications in the health website was 3.27 and for patient- centered of health website was 3.55. The results showed that there were significant relationships among total characteristics of the health website (P < 0.001).ConclusionOne can infer that the University's health department website is not proportionate to most of its domestic clients and could not provide the information needs of the healthcare staff. Therefore, practical and methodological considerations in the design of the website of the health department should be taken into consideration in order to provide user-oriented information on the website

Spiritual health in cancer patients at OMID hospital affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences -2012

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objectives: Due to high prevalence of cancer and its destructive impact on spiritual health of patients, this study aim to investigate Spiritual health in cancer patients at OMID hospital affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 2012. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the study population was 106 cancer patients referred to hospital. Paloutzian-Ellison questionnaire (1982) and convenience sampling were used to collect data which were analyzed using SPSS 16.Results: The mean scores of spiritual health, religious health and existential health were 97±1.2, 52.1±6.4 and 44.8±8.4 respectively .There was not statistical significant relationship between Spiritual health and  demographic factors. Conclusion: Spiritual health in cancer patients was intermediate. Promotion of spiritual health in diseases such as cancer that it is effective on the body, mind and spirit be taken into consideration specifically, because the Promotion of spiritual health leads to physical and mental health promotion. Keywords: Cancer, Spiritual health, HospitalFor downloading the full-text of this article please click here

Metal Nanoparticles and Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Nanotechnology opens a large scope of novel applications in the fields of biotechnology and agricultural industries. Nanoparticles (NPs) are described as particles with at least one dimension in the 1–100 nm size range. They have unique physicochemical properties, i.e., high surface area, high reactivity, tunable pore size, and particle morphology. Abiotic stresses like drought, salinity, flooding, heat, heavy metals, etc. are major constraints that affect the growth and productivity of plants. To overcome the impact of these abiotic stresses, many strategies could be considered to support plant growth including the use of metal nanoparticles. Several metal nanoparticles (such as Zn, Fe, Ti, Ag, Mn, Cu, and Mo NPs) are being studied to assess their potential in protecting plants from abiotic stresses, improving plants, and modulating various plant processes. The present review has investigated the beneficial role of metal nanoparticles in alleviation of various abiotic stresses in some plants

Strategies for planning domestic and international tourism development of Qom Province with emphasis on religious Tourism

Abstract: Tourism with its broad range of impacts including amongst other economical, environmental, social-cultural benefits and costs, is a global phenomenon, which has variously attracted the attention of public and private sector interests. Because of its propensity to generate substantial economic benefits such as employment, foreign exchange ,income and tax revenues etc. developed countries and developing countries and in particular ,have embarked upon tourism-related development policies .One such developing country is the Islamic Republic of Iran ,the policy-makers of which are seeking to expansively develop its tourism sector as part of dialogue of civilization and introducing Iranian cultural ,historical and natural heritage to the world as well as means of achieving economic diversifications. Iran’s rich array of cultural and natural recourses, many of which are unique, constitute considerable actual and potential attractions and, therefore render Iran as a significant cultural tourism destination. Thus the overall purpose of the present study is to examine tourism attractions and to give strategies for tourism development of Qom province which is one of the main religious tourism destination of Iran and the Shiite world as it houses a lot of various attractions and a great number of tourists travel to this city to visit tourism attractions of Qom province. This province has got a very strategic political, geographical and tourism conditions in Iran. Qom receives more than 12 million local, regional and international pilgrims, tourists and as more than 16 provinces land transportations are crossing Qom. Korosh and Daryosh Hakhamaneshi erected the 2500 kilometers kingship road with necessary equipment (including: passengers, guiding bars, hostels, numerous Caravansaries, special official's appointment for keeping the road…). Iranian showed that they highly attend to hospitality and tourism. Establishing numerous roads with necessary equipment in history of Iran including Silk Road in Ashkanian era and Karballa-Mashhad in Safavieh dynasty confirm this issue. In history, Iran has been one of the best countries for tourists as they mentioned in their itineraries. For example, Sharden, a famous French traveler in Safavieh era, wrote in his book in this way: "All over the world, there is no country like Iran for traveling either in respect of little dangers and safety of roads being watched precisely or low price of expenses thanks to large numbers of public building for passengers through out the empire, free residence in them, and existence of flat roads and bridges in impractical parts for country's caravans and passengers." There are one million and two hundred thousand tourism heritages and attractions in Iran which confirms Sharden's words nowadays. Tourism industry is so significant in economic and social development having been called "invisible export" by economists nowadays.Validerat; 20101217 (root

Strategies for planning domestic and international tourism development of Qom Province with emphasis on religious Tourism

Abstract: Tourism with its broad range of impacts including amongst other economical, environmental, social-cultural benefits and costs, is a global phenomenon, which has variously attracted the attention of public and private sector interests. Because of its propensity to generate substantial economic benefits such as employment, foreign exchange ,income and tax revenues etc. developed countries and developing countries and in particular ,have embarked upon tourism-related development policies .One such developing country is the Islamic Republic of Iran ,the policy-makers of which are seeking to expansively develop its tourism sector as part of dialogue of civilization and introducing Iranian cultural ,historical and natural heritage to the world as well as means of achieving economic diversifications. Iran’s rich array of cultural and natural recourses, many of which are unique, constitute considerable actual and potential attractions and, therefore render Iran as a significant cultural tourism destination. Thus the overall purpose of the present study is to examine tourism attractions and to give strategies for tourism development of Qom province which is one of the main religious tourism destination of Iran and the Shiite world as it houses a lot of various attractions and a great number of tourists travel to this city to visit tourism attractions of Qom province. This province has got a very strategic political, geographical and tourism conditions in Iran. Qom receives more than 12 million local, regional and international pilgrims, tourists and as more than 16 provinces land transportations are crossing Qom. Korosh and Daryosh Hakhamaneshi erected the 2500 kilometers kingship road with necessary equipment (including: passengers, guiding bars, hostels, numerous Caravansaries, special official's appointment for keeping the road…). Iranian showed that they highly attend to hospitality and tourism. Establishing numerous roads with necessary equipment in history of Iran including Silk Road in Ashkanian era and Karballa-Mashhad in Safavieh dynasty confirm this issue. In history, Iran has been one of the best countries for tourists as they mentioned in their itineraries. For example, Sharden, a famous French traveler in Safavieh era, wrote in his book in this way: "All over the world, there is no country like Iran for traveling either in respect of little dangers and safety of roads being watched precisely or low price of expenses thanks to large numbers of public building for passengers through out the empire, free residence in them, and existence of flat roads and bridges in impractical parts for country's caravans and passengers." There are one million and two hundred thousand tourism heritages and attractions in Iran which confirms Sharden's words nowadays. Tourism industry is so significant in economic and social development having been called "invisible export" by economists nowadays.Validerat; 20101217 (root