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Background: Job burnout is more frequent in stressful and high-risk jobs. Healthcare workers, especially Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) workers and therapists, are more exposed to job burnout. This study aimed to compare the burnout rate among the staff and therapists working in behavioral disease counseling centers and health centers in 9 provinces of Iran. Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 9 provinces of Iran from January 2020 to March 2020. For this research, 94 VCT workers as the experimental group, and 103 public clinic workers participated as the available sampling group. To collect the data, the Meslesh questionnaire was used and descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, etc.) and inferential methods were applied for statistical analysis (t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test, chi - square test and Spearman correlation test). (P< 0.05). Results: Our finding showed that 33% of health center workers and 32% of VCT workers had burnout, but the difference was not statistically significant. Most Health Center (HC) workers who showed burnout were working in the southern province of Iran (Bushehr and Bandar Abbas), and the most VCT workers who showed burnout were working in the western province of Iran (Kermanshah and Kurdistan). Conclusion: Although the rate of burnout in the staff of these two centers is very similar, it can be concluded that due to the small number of people referred to AIDS centers compared to the large number of patients in health centers, working with people with HIV/AIDS is so difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Many scales have been developed to assess health literacy. These scales have been developed extensively in clinical populations in developed countries. Our study describes the process of development and validation of the Health Literacy Questionnaire to measure health literacy in the general Iranian population. Methods: We followed the scale development process outlined by Schwab in 1980. After a comprehensive review of the research published on Nutbeam's definition of health literacy and its measurement, two focus groups were considered to generate a pool of items. We then assessed the face validity and content validity of the items. The final version of the questionnaire was subject to independent exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Finally, construct validity was assessed using bivariate analysis between the total scores on the scale and theoretically relevant variables. Results: The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed a threefactor 14-item structure for the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis provided a good statistical and conceptual fit for the data. The analysis of the internal consistency of the scale was satisfactory (α = 0.798). Further, health literacy was significantly associated with participants' age, educational level, self-rated household income, smoking history, self-rated health, and self-rated health literacy. Conclusions: The results we obtained indicate that this newly constructed health literacy tool is highly valid and reliable. Prospective studies are required to evaluate the predictive validity of the scale with regard to health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Effectiveness of mindfulness-based therapy on a variety of psychopathological disorders is well documented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy on cognitive emotion regulation in patients with substance abuse disorder. Methods: The study had a quasi-experimental design, with pretest, posttest, and two groups (experimental and control). The population of this study included men with substance abuse disorder, who were under methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) in two outpatient methadone clinics in the city of Mashhad from 2014 to 2015. From among them, 60 were selected randomly and allocated to an experimental group and a control group (n = 30 per group). The experimental group underwent eight 1.5 hour sessions of therapeutic interventions held once a week. The tools for data collection consisted of cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. The control and experimental groups were similar in terms of mean age, education level, and duration of abuse. Results: While similar in pretest, the two groups obtained significantly different scores in the posttest, suggesting the effectiveness of group therapy. Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy can impact psychological factors involved in opiate addiction. Thus, we can use this approach as a nonpharmacological treatment for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Motivation to quit substance abuse is a key element in encouraging patients to seek treatment but research to identify factors that may influence motivation has received less attention, particularly on treatment-seeking substance abusers in short-term residential camps. This study investigated predictors of motivation for substance abuse treatment among patients in short-term residential treatment. A total of 317 male substance abusers undergoing residential treatment were enrolled in this cross-sectional study and assessed typically at 5–7 days after admission. Motivation was measured by the Circumstances, Motivation, and Readiness scales (CMR). Using multiple regression analysis, factors considered to potentially predict motivation were assessed. The mean age of participants was 28.6 9 ±6.55 (range: 15–55) years. Participants were predominantly single (47.9%) and most were employed part-time (42.9%). Of the examined factors, perceived social support, drug avoidance self-efficacy, and drug quitting outcome expectancies emerged as important predictors of motivation (F= 9.548 withp< 0.001,R= 0.238), whereas demographic and substance use related variables did not (p> 0.05). Results of this study confirm that cognitive constructs such as perceived avoidance self-efficacy, perceived social support, and outcome expectancies need to be considered in treatment assessment and addressed in treatment implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Drug avoidance self efficacy has always been an important issue in substance abuse treatment and its important has emphasized in specific models of addiction. This study describes the process of cultural adaptation, validation and dimensionality of the Persian version of “Drug Avoidance Self Efficacy Scale”. Methods: Cultural adaptation process followed the procedure outlined by Beaton et al. Psychometric properties and dimensionality of the scale were assessed using sample of Iranian addicts (n = 317). The DASES was subject to independent exploratory (n = 157, mean age 29.40 ± 7.26) and confirmatory (n = 160, mean age 27.99 ± 5.70) factor analysis. Internal consistency of the questionnaire also was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: There was no eliminated item in the cultural adaptation process. Results of exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor 14-item structure for the DASES. Secondary order, two-factor model provided a good statistical and conceptual fit for the data. The analysis of internal consistency of DASES was very satisfactory (α = 0.809). Conclusions: Although culturally adapted DASES is a potentially reliable and valid measure of substance users’ perceptions of avoidance self-efficacy, the findings should be viewed as preliminary in nature. Future research needs to determine to what extent substance users’ perceptions of avoidance self efficacy impact on treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]