Search

Background: Bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) is characterized by periodic mood swings, including mania and depression. Family stress and cognitive defects are among the important factors in the relapse of this disorder. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of family-focused therapy (FFT) and social cognitive and interaction training (SCIT) in preventing BD-I relapse and improving the patient’s interpersonal relationships and components related to social functioning. Methods: This quasi-experimental study had a controlled, pretest-posttest, and three-month follow-up design. Sixty patients with BD-I, hospitalized in Zahedan Psychiatric Hospital (Zahedan, Iran), as well as one of their primary caregivers, were selected purposefully based on the inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to three groups. A total of 56 individuals completed all the study questionnaires until the follow-up. The SCIT group (consisting of only patients) and the FFT group (consisting of patients with a primary caregiver) each participated in 15 sessions of group interventions. The research tools were completed before the intervention, after the first session of the intervention, after the intervention, and in the follow-up. Results: The present results showed that the SCIT and FFT could equally improve relapse prevention and promote social functioning and its components, except for the component of interpersonal relationships, where SCIT was more effective than FFT in the posttest (β=3, P=0.034) and follow-up (β=5.043, P=0.001). Conclusion: According to the present results, since FFT is an evidence-based treatment for BD-I patients, SCIT can be used along with this intervention, as simultaneous attention to environmental factors and social cognitive defects can provide an opportunity to improve the social functioning of patients with BD-I, especially their interpersonal relationships.

Background and Aim: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that patients suffer from its complications and experience physical and emotional side effects in their lifetime. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) on fatigue in MS patients. Materials and Methods: This was a clinical trial with pre and post-test design. Among the patients with MS referring to the neurology department of Baqiyatallah Hospital, 30 patients were selected by convenient sampling method and randomly divided into two experimental and one control groups. Fatigue severity scale (FSS) was used to assess fatigue in the MS patients in the pre-treatment (pre-test) and post-treatment (post-test) stages. Results: The results showed that ACT and CBT only with a little difference had similar effects on the improvement and decrease of severity of fatigue so that, we found a significant decrease in the scores of severity of fatigue in the post-test compared to the scores in the pre-test. Conclusion: The results indicated that ACT and CBT had the same effect on reducing the severity of fatigue in the MS patients.

The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a tool for measuring anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents. In this study, the psychometric properties of the Persian version of SCAS were investigated in an Iranian adolescents. This study was conducted on a sample of 684 adolescents. For standardization of SCAS, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses wereperformed. Also, to evaluate convergent and divergent validity, Fornell and Larcker criteria (1994), along with the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS)and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), was used. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was also performedto determine the cut-off point. The model fit of the correlated six-factor model was good however, a second-order model provided a statistically superior fit to the data. The reliability coefficients for the total scale and its dimensions were satisfactory (α > 0.7). Therefore, it can be concluded that the Persian version of SCAS has acceptable reliability and validity and can be used as a useful tool for early screening of anxiety in Iranian adolescents due to its easy use and specific design for children and adolescents.

Considering the high prevalence of abdominal pain in children and adolescents in Iran, it is essential to use appropriate screening tools. One of the most comprehensive, yet concise, tools for this purpose is the Abdominal Pain Index (API). This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the self-report API in adolescents. In this descriptive study, A total of 162 Iranian adolescents in the age range of 12 to 18 years were considered as the sample group, which included two groups of school students (n = 125) and adolescent patients with abdominal pain (n = 37). Clinical sample was selected by the available sampling method, and nonclinical sample was selected by the cluster sampling method. Adolescents in the sample group were selected from both clinical and nonclinical groups in order to evaluate differential validity. Instruments, including API, somatic symptoms subscale of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), were also completed for the participants. Also, to evaluate the construct validity of API, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis methods were applied. The exploratory factor analysis identified one general factor, and the confirmatory factor analysis results show the model’s satisfactory fitting. Also, the researchers’ hypothesis, i.e., API is a single-factor model (with five items), was approved. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was satisfactory for the total scale (α

The aim of this study is to compare abused and normal male students in Tehran guidance schools with emphasis on the co-dependency of their mothers. The method of this study is based on survey method and comparison (Ex-Post Facto). The method of sampling is also multi-stage cluster. Accordingly, we did sampling from secondary schools of education and training in Tehran, including 12 schools with levels of first, second and third. Each of the schools represents the three – high, medium and low- economic and social conditions. In the following, three classes from every school and 20 students from each class were randomly selected. By (CTQ) abused and normal students were separated that 670 children were recognized as normal and 50 children as abused. Then, 50 children were randomly selected from normal group and compared with abused group. Using Spanned-Fischer Co-dependency Scale, we compared mothers of abused and normal students. The results showed that mothers of the abused children have higher co- dependency average comparing to the mothers of the normal children.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of solution-focused group therapy on improving the depressed mothers of child abuser families. This study was carried out in the form of a semi-pilot, pre-test and post-test on two groups (experimental and control). Subjects include all mothers and their children that are the members of Shush and Naser Khosro child home. Beck Depression Inventory and Child Trauma Questionnaire were used to collect data. First, child abuse questionnaire was completed by children, Then Beck Depression Inventory was completed by their mothers that 22 of them were recognized as depressed and randomly divided in two groups of experimental and control. After applying pre-test for both of these groups, the intervention of solution- focused group therapy was performed in five sessions on experimental group. Finally, post-test was applied on both groups and subsequently in a month, follow-up test was performed. T-test, multivariate variance, and repeated measurement analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. According to the findings, it can be concluded that this therapy leads to the improvement of depressed mother's mood. As a result, the intervention of solution-focused group therapy is useful in order to improve the depressing mood of mothers of child abuser families.