Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology
Year:2010 | Volume:16 | Issue:2 (61)|Papers Count:8

Objectives: The present study was carried out to investigate suicide among students based on the variables of sex, age, season and month, location and method of suicide. The exact time of suicide, drug use, history of psychiatric disorders, history of suicide attempt and self mutilation, field of education, and history of either attempting or committing suicide among friends and relatives were also considered. Method: This research was a descriptive study, and the study sample comprised all suicide cases referred to the legal medicine organization. Data were collected during one retrospective and one prospective stage by assessing the students’ profiles and interviewing their family members. Results: During the timeline between 2003 and 2008 the sum of 337 cases of suicide were committed, most of them had occurred in the summer and at the victims’ homes. Hanging and bleeding had the highest and the lowest prevalence among suicide methods respectively. Interview results showed that most of the suicide victims were males, city dwellers, 22-years-olds, single, students of human sciences, sophomores, and students of Islamic Azad University. Most suicides were committed at daytimes, on Mondays, Sundays, Fridays, and on vacations between terms. Conclusion: The findings of the current study could be helpful in discovering the basic factors of suicide attempt among students’ suicide, and offer strategies for preventing and reducing the rate of suicide in the country.

Objectives: Evaluating the effectiveness of a group psycho-educational program on family caregivers of inpatients with mental disorders in Noor Hospital in the city of Isfahan. Method: The present study was a single blind randomized clinical trial, and assessed the effective-ness of a group psycho-educational program on 100 family caregivers of psychiatric inpatients over a three month period, in Noor Hospital affiliated to Center for Behavioral Science Research of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Caregivers’ burden was assessed using Zarit Burden Interview ZBI. Results: The results showed that the mean score of burden in family care givers of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorders significantly decreased (p=0.001) in comparison with the control group. Conclusion: The group intervention program for reducing caregivers’ burden in family caregivers of patients was effective, and this could potentially improve the quality of life of both patients and caregivers.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating patients with obesity. Method: A single-case experimental trial of multiple-baseline type was carried out in two stages of losing and maintaining weight on four female patients with obesity. Patients with obesity in accord with Body Mass Index (BMI) responded to the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), Appearance Schemas Inventory (ASI), and Weight Efficacy Life-Style Questionnaire (WEL) at five stages of: baseline (pre-treatment), as well as sixth, twelfth, eighteenth, and twenty fourth sessions of treatment. Patients weighing was carried out at the beginning of each session. Data were presented using graphs and improvement rates. Results: Cognitive-behavioral treatment of obesity was effective in reducing weight and maintaining loss of weight and changes in body image satisfaction, personal beliefs about appearance and weight self-efficacy. Conclusions: Cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in treating patients with obesity.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of storytelling on aggression in 6 to eight-year old boys. Method: Using a Quasi experimental, pretest-posttest follow-up design with control group, a sample consisting of 22 elementary school boys who had scored one standard deviation above the mean on Shahim Aggression Scale, were randomly assigned to two groups. The experimental group underwent 11 sessions of “storytelling” as the independent factor, and the control group received no intervention. Upon the completion of intervention and after three months, both groups were tested to determine the effect of the independent factor on the dependent factor of “aggression”. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: Both parents and teachers reported that storytelling reduced the signs of aggression in children. This decrease remained stable in the three-month follow-up. Conclusion: These findings indicate the efficiency of stories and their structure in educating children and solving their problems.

Objectives: Considering the importance and the role of scientific research in small and large scale programming, and also regarding the fact that researches should be in line with the major needs of the society, the aim of this study was to assess research needs in the field of behavioral science and prioritizing them from the viewpoint of mental health professionals in the city of Isfahan. Method: The current study was a cross sectional descriptive study which was carried out on 91 individuals consisting of psychiatrists, psychologists, health professionals, social workers and nurses in Isfahan. The research environment included Center for Research on Behavioral Science, physicians’ offices, and health and treatment centers in Isfahan. Data were gathered using Delphi method. Results: The different groups of subjects had the following viewpoints with regard to research priorities. psychiatrists: determining the position of the lost chain of social work in the field of psychiatry and comparing it with universal models, as well as the assessment of familial, occupational, educational and other factors in psychiatric patients; psychologists: the evaluation of sexual needs as well as approaches to its control and equilibrium regarding religious culture, and assessing parents’ relationship with each other and with their children on the addiction of adolescents; social workers: the effectiveness of pre-marriage social trainings on marriage compatibility, and the efficiency of social interventions in divorce prevention; occupational therapists: the psychopathology of families with at least one patient with psychiatric illness, and the role and importance of sensual homogeneity in the treatment of various mood disorders; mental health professionals: addiction in physicians, health personnel, employees and workers; nurses: family training and its effect on the behavior of psychiatric patients, as well as causes and factors related to relapse in psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: According the present need assessment from professionals involved in mental health and behavioral science, research in the fields of addiction, suicide and family has higher priority.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to predict girls’ runaway from home using the five factor model of personality. Method: In a retrospective study, 37 runaway girls who were incarcerated and kept by relevant organizations, were selected using convenience sampling. Considering the mean age of the runaway girls, 37 single females residing in middle to low socioeconomic neigh-borhood in Shiraz, were selected as the control group. The Big Five Personality Inventory along with a number of questions for acquiring demographic information were administered to the parti-cipants. Results: Hierarchical logistic regression indicated that only neuroticism could significantly predict the runaway of girls; and the level of neuroticism had a positive correlation with runaway. In addition the interaction between fathers’ jobs and conscientiousness in girls was significant (p<0.05); in other words, an increase in conscientiousness along with the high job status of father reduced the risk of runaway. However, the relationship of conscientiousness with a reduction in runaway was insignificant in lower job status. Conclusion: Big Five personality traits are not powerful predictors of girls’ running away. It seems that using more specific personality scales and attention to interaction between personality and environmental factors could improve the power of predicting girls’ runaway based on their personality characteristics. Moreover, personal factors appear to be more powerful predictors of girls’ runaway from their homes in higher socio-economic classes.

Objectives: The present study was carried out to assess early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and schema domains in a sample of sexual offenders. Method: The subjects were divided into two groups of 34 (one group of sexual offenders and one group of normal individuals). The sample of sexual offenders was randomly selected from among Mashad prison inmates convicted of rape. Normal subjects who were selected according to GSI score in SCL-90-R were matched by age, marital status, occupation and education with the first group. The data were collected by Young Schema Questionnaire- Short Form (YSQ-SF) and were analyzed via t-test. Also, SCL-90-R was used for screening the normal group. Results: The mean score of early maladaptive schemas as well as the schema domains of sexual offenders were significantly higher than those of normal individuals (p<0.05). This discrepancy was mostly evident in vulnerability to harm or illness, subjugation, defectiveness/ shame; dependenc/ incompetence, entitlement/ grandiosity early maladaptive schemas and disconnection and rejection, Impaired autonomy and performance schema domain. There was no significant difference in self-sacrifice maladaptive schema (p<0.05). Conclusion: High scores in early maladaptive schema especially in disconnection/rejection and impaired autonomy/ performance schema domain could lead to the tendency to commit sexual offenses and rape.

Objectives: The present study investigated mindfulness and satisfaction of basic psychological needs among patients with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). Method: A questionnaire consisting of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), needs satisfaction (NS), coronary prone behavior (CPB), anxiety, depression and perceived stress scales was administered to 101 CHD patients and 103 normal subjects. Collected data from both groups were analyzed by descriptive statistics, comparing of between group means and MANOVA model. Results: Data analysis showed that the group with CHD had lower levels of mindfulness and more coronary prone behaviors in comparison with the normal group, but there was no significant difference in basic needs satisfaction. The CHD patients had higher levels of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress as well. Conclusion: Individuals with CHD are not mindful of the somatic signs such as palpitation and dyspnea before the acute development of the disease, and show more coronary prone behavior in comparison with normal individuals.