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Test anxiety is a serious problem for many college students. This study examines the development and validation of the Online Test Anxiety Inventory (OTAI) to evaluate test anxiety among online students. In this study, the OTAI is developed and administered to a sample of 157 postgraduate online students: 77 males and 80 females, aged 22 to 51 years. To design the initial version of the 38-item, Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale, Abolghsemi's Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) and Spielberger's Test Anxiety Scale were studied, and many interviews were conducted with online learning students who had a high level of test anxiety. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was employed to obtain the Goodness of Fit Indices of the model to the data. The final result is a multidimensional, 18-item OTAI comprised of three factors--online, psychological, and physiological--with a high internal consistency (a = 0.91) and acceptable criterion validity. Concurrent validity was measured by the association of the OTAI and the TAI (r = 0.83).

AbstractThe present study aimed to explore the effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in facilitating post-traumatic growth, increasing self-compassion, and reducing behavior problems among the children experiencing the 2017 Sarpol-e Zahab (Iran) earthquake. Among earthquake-traumatized 9-12-year-old girls, 24 were selected through purposive sampling. The 24 participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group, each with 12 subjects. The experimental group received 12 sessions of TF-CBT, although 3 subjects left the experimental group during the sessions. Consequently, the analysis included 21 participants: 9 in the experimental group and 12 in the control group. The post-traumatic growth inventory for children revised (PTGI-C-R), the self-compassion scale-short form (SCS-SF), and the Rutter children’s behavior questionnaire for parents were completed at baseline, after the intervention, and one-month follow-up. The results indicated that compared to the control group the participants in the experimental group obtained higher scores in post-traumatic growth and lower scores in behavior problems (i.e., aggression and hyperactivity, and anxiety and depression) (p <.01) which were consistent in the follow-up period. It was also find out that, the experimental group reported higher levels of self-compassion in the follow-up (p <.01). The study suggests that TF-CBT may be effective in improving post-traumatic growth, self-compassion, and behavior problems among children affected by earthquake trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childhood trauma has negative immediate and long-term impacts on depression. Questions remain, however, regarding the cognitive factors influencing this relationship. This study aimed to investigate the role of three cognitive factors – cognitive overgeneralisation, rumination and social problem-solving – as mediating factors in the relationship between childhood trauma and symptoms of depression. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in Iran from March to July 2023. Participants (N = 227; Mean age 32.44 ± 8.95 years) with depression completed measures of childhood trauma, depression, self-overgeneralisation, cognitive errors, memory specificity, rumination and social problem-solving. The conceptual model was assessed using structural equation modelling. Results: Structural equation modelling indicated that childhood trauma had a positive direct effect on depression symptoms. Childhood trauma had a positive indirect effect on depression symptoms through both self-overgeneralisation and rumination and a negative indirect effect on depression through effective social problem-solving strategies. Conclusions: The findings suggest increased exposure to childhood trauma may be associated with elevated depression and self-overgeneralisation, rumination, and effective social problemsolving strategies may play an important role in this relationship. These findings hold potential implications for those working with patients with depression and a history of childhood trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the recent studies, there are wide range of psychological disorders in developed and developing countries with different levels of economic conditions. One of the most important psychological disorders and pressures is depression. An issue that has been neglected so far is impact of urban environmental quality on psychological health. Housing in this physical environment plays a very important role in psychological health indexes such as depression. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between qualitative indexes of housing and depression with a case study of at MoftAbad and Mardavij neighborhoods in Isfahan. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression have been used for data analysis. Independent variables of study include qualitative variables of housing that have been studied in accordance with literature in both internal and external dimensions. Dependent variable of study is depression. Depression Inventory Questionnaire of Beck et al. (1996) with 21 questions, used to measure depression. Results showed that variables such as interior design, indoor greenbelt, natural received light, natural ventilation, and plant diversity, walking possibility, quality of public spaces, and environmental cleanliness and security have most impact on level of depression of residents in urban neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up until the date of this research, studies have examined poststroke cognitive impairments in attention, memory, and executive functions. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of memory problems in various patterns of memory in ischemic stroke patients in an attempt to determine specific memory profiles of the patients. The goal was to determine the severity and patterns of memory impairments in ischemic stroke patients and to identify specific profiles of memory impairments in stroke patients, in order to help therapists to develop more appropriate memory rehabilitation programs for the patients. The sample consisted of 35 patients with ischemic stroke. Thirty-five individuals who were matched with the patients were selected as the control group. Demographic questionnaires, subscales of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III), including logical memory I and II and visual reproduction I and II, digit span from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-R (WAIS-R), and the Corsi span test were administered to both of the patients and control groups. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was carried out to unveil possible differences in memory between the two groups. The mean scores of different memory patterns were significantly higher in the control group comparing to the patient group (p < 0.05). Among different aspects of memory, visual long-term memory and visual short-term memory had the largest effect sizes. Substantial impairments were also found in visual short-term memory, visuospatial short-term memory, and visual long-term memory. The findings suggest that the stroke patients have identifiable patterns of memory impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on attachment theory, researches concluded that attachment styles influence marital quality. although researches support this correlation, some psychological factors are involved, mediating between them. The aim of the present study was to examine the mediating role of relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder (ROCD) in relation to marital quality and attachment styles in women. In this descriptive-correlational study, statistical population included all married women in Isfahan between winter and spring 2015. A sample of 195 women was examined who were selected through convenience sampling. Golombok-Rust Inventory of Marital State, Adult Attachment Questionnaire, and Relationship Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory were used as the research instruments. The results showed that the triple dimensions of attachment styles were significantly correlated with marital quality and ROCD. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that triple dimensions of ROCD played the role of mediation variable in the association between attachment styles and marital quality. Therefore, based on the obtained results, the association between attachment styles and marital quality is not as simple as a linear correlation and could be affected by ROCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of bereavement (father death due to war in Afghanistan) on autobiographical memory specificity in Afghan adolescents living in Iran. Participants consisted of bereaved (n=70) and non-bereaved (n=33) Afghan adolescents. The measures included Farsi versions of the Autobiographical Memory Test, Mood and Feeling Questionnaire, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Impact of Event Scale. Results indicated that the bereaved group retrieved a significantly lower proportion of specific memories and a significantly greater proportion of extended and categoric memories than the non-bereaved group. Additionally, depression symptoms and reduced autobiographical memory specificity were significantly correlated. These findings suggest that bereaved adolescents have impaired autobiographical memory specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emotion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (ECBT) is a new form of CBT with emotion regulation components. This form of treatment is suggested to be employed to improve dysregulation of anxiety and other kind of emotions in anxious children. This study observed and compared the effectiveness of CBT and ECBT on anxiety symptoms; sadness and anger management; and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD). Materials and Methods: This study is a randomized clinical trial. Subjects were 30 children from 9 to 13-years-old (15 girls and 15 boys) with diagnosis of SAD, being randomly assigned to CBT, ECBT, and control groups (five girls and five boys in each group). Subject children in CBT group participated in 10-h weekly sessions within Coping Cat manual; whereas, subject children in ECBT group contributed in 12-h weekly sessions within ECBT. The control group received no treatment. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED; child and parent forms), Children's Emotion Management Scale (CEMS; anger and sadness forms), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) tests administered to all subjects in pretest, posttest, and the follow-up measurement (3 months later). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) repeated measure and Kruskal-Wallis were applied to analyze data by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package (v. 20). Results: CBT and ECBT; demonstrated no significant difference in reducing separation anxiety and total anxiety symptoms from parent and children's reports. ECBT effectively increased anger coping and decreased negative cognitive strategies and dysregulation of anger in children, both in posttest and follow-up. Also, ECBT reduced sadness dysregulation and increased sadness coping, though these significant advantages were lost in 3 months later follow-up. CBT reduced negative cognitive strategies in follow-up and increased sadness coping in posttest. None of treatments affected on anger and sadness inhibition and positive cognitive coping in separation anxious children. Conclusion: ECBT, in comparison with CBT; effectively improved emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research on attachment has shed new light on understanding one of the underlying mechanisms of psychopathology in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of attachment-based intervention in a pediatric sample with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods: Twelve participants, 10-12 years of age, were treated across an eight-week period. They had not been treated with either pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy previously and remained medication-free during the attachment-based therapy. This study comprised two groups of children: The experimental group, who received attachment-based intervention, and the control group, who did not receive treatment. All participants were assessed in terms of severity of OCD symptoms by administrating the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale before and after the experimental group had received the therapeutic sessions. The children were assessed again one month later. The level of children's depression, and attachment insecurity, as well as their mothers' depression, OCD symptoms, and attachment insecurity, were statistically controlled in this study. Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that the OCD symptoms in children decreased significantly over the course of the therapy, and this gain was maintained at follow-up. The results of this study demonstrated that the attachment-based intervention was efficacious in alleviating the OCD symptoms. Conclusion: It is suggested that parental instruction in attachment-based relationships may help prevent young children from developing OCD symptoms in middle-childhood and adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]