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Abstract Introduction Dialysis causes many psychological and social problems, such as stress and inefficiency in patients, which should be considered in health promotion interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the impact of stress management training on stress coping strategies and the self-efficacy of these patients in southeastern Iran. Methods This quasi-experimental study was a randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on hemodialysis patients from December 2019 to January 2020. Patients who met inclusion criteria were selected with the convenience sampling method and divided into the two groups of intervention (n = 30) and control (n = 30) by using the block randomization method. Participants in the intervention group were trained in a stress management training program in 8 one-and-a-half-hour sessions, held twice a week. Data were measured with stress coping strategies and general self-efficacy questionnaires before, immediately, and 1 month after the intervention. SPSS18 was used for data analysis. Results The study results showed that the scores of stress coping strategies and the self-efficacy score in all their dimensions were significantly different between the intervention and control groups (P

Today, regarding the rapid growth of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), e-commerce, and the subsequent expansion of electronic banking, the banking market structure is also expected to dramatically be changed. This paper aims to explore the main effect of electronic banking on the structure of the Iranian banking industry by investigating the banking market concentration degree. To accomplish this aim, an intelligent hybrid model is developed based on multilayer perceptron neural network and fuzzy regression of the effects of banking on the relative electronic share of banks. In the developed method, the neural network parameters such as weights and errors have been considered as the fuzzy parameters to model it under uncertainty. Ultimately, the descriptive statistics are utilized to evaluate how the difference in relative size of banks concerning e-banking has changed, in addition to exploring the main effect of e-banking on the bank’s contribution described as a neural network-fuzzy regression model. Moreover, it shows how the concentration degree in the Iranian banking sector has been reduced. The implemented analysis of the reasons for this decrease reveals that the share of banks has decreased due to an increase in the share of the small banks. Furthermore, model estimation confirms that there exists a positive relationship between banks’ share and the use of electronic banking. Besides, the small banks have strongly been shown to utilize the e-banking so that it would lead to an increase in their share and a decrease in the concentration degree. As such, it can be concluded that e-banking has reduced the concentration degree in Iran. The descriptive statistics are employed to prove it.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) on anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: This experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design with a control group and a two-month follow-up. The statistical population of this study included all mothers of children with ASD in Tehran (Marjan Kindergarten and Psychology Center), Iran, in the year 2021. At first, 30 people were selected by the available sampling method and then randomly divided into experimental and control groups (15 experimental and 15 control). For the experimental group, the CBT was implemented in 10 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. The instruments used in this study included the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), the COVID stress scale (CSS), and the PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview (PSS-I). Data analysis was performed using SPSS software in two sections: descriptive [mean and standard deviation (SD)] and inferential [analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures and Bonferroni post-hoc test]. RESULTS: CBT significantly improved COVID-19 anxiety, COVID stress, and PTSD, and the results had enough consistency in the follow-up period, as well (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CBT had a positive effect on reducing anxiety, stress, and PTSD caused by COVID-19 and can be used as an effective intervention to improve the behavior of mothers of children with ASD.