KNOWLEDGE & RESEARCH IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Year:2014 | Volume:15 | Issue:2 (56)|Papers Count:20

The aim of study was to determine the effects of spiritual and moral intelligence on self-actualization and life satisfaction in the old aged persons in Isfahan based on structural equations modeling. The research method was correlation. The statistical population included all 128581 old aged people in Isfahan city in the year (2011) that were at least 60 years old. From this population 100 persons (44 females and 56 males) were randomly selected via multi- stage cluster sampling from 8 areas of Isfahan city. To collect the data, the following questionnaires were used: Self-Actualization (Maslo, 1977), Life Satisfaction Index (LSI, Neugarten&Havighurst, 1998), Spiritual Intelligence (King, 2008), and Moral Intelligence (Lennick&Kiel, 2005). Data analysis was done by applying SPSS-19 software. The alpha coefficients and also were satisfactory. The results of path analysis showed that the effects of moral intelligence on self-actualization and life satisfaction, are significant (P<0.01). But the effects of spiritual intelligence on the two variables were not significant.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of subjective well-being group training on mental health of students of Islamic Azad University Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch. The method of this study was quasi-experimental with pre- and post-test, including one experimental and one control group. The statistical population of this study was students of the University in fall of 2012 (1391s.c.), from among them in which 40 subjects were selected by available sampling method and assigned randomly to the two groups-control and experimental- each one including 20 subjects. The Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R; Derogatis etal., 1973) was used to gather the data. The experimental group received subjective well-being training in 10 sessions (in 5 weeks, 2 sessions per week, and each session 90 minutes). The results of multivariable analysis of covariance showed that, except depression, there were significant differences in all other sub-scales of SCL-90-R (Somatization, Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation, Psychoticism, Global Severity Index, Positive Symptom Distress Index, Positive Symptom Total) between the two groups. Means of the training group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.01). These results suggest that training of subjective well-being can be beneficial for students' mental health.

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of perceived organizational justice (POJ) on perceived turnover intention (PTI) with the mediating effect of perceived organizational identification (POI), organizational support (POS), and job satisfaction (PJS) in a public organization in east of Iran. The type of research was applicational&descriptive, and research method was correlational based on path analysis. From 870 employees of the organization, 270 persons selected by stratified random sampling based on Krejcie & Morgan (1970) sampling table. Measurment and collecting data instruments were: Perceived Distributional Justice (Kim, Moon, and Tikoo, 2004), Procedural and Interactional Juctice (Tabarsa, Esmaeli Givi and Esmaeli Givi, 1389s.c./2016), POI (Mael and Ashforth, 1992), POS (Edwards, 2009), PJS (Spector, 1985), and PTI (Sager, Griffeth and Hom, 1998). Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and path analysis method by LISREL software. Findings revealed acceptable correlation between all variables in the study, and all hypotheses in all following pathes were confirmed (P<0.05): included: positive effect of perceived organizational justice on perceived organizational identification, and perceived organizational justice on job satisfaction, perceived organizational justice on organizational support, organizational support on job satisfaction, perceived organizational identification on job satisfaction, and negative effect of organizational support on perceived turnover intention, perceived organizational identification on perceived turnover intention, and job satisfaction on perceived turnover intention. It means POJ (in order of beta) can separatly predict turnover intention from mediating role of organizational support, job satisfaction and organizational identification.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of the social capital components (trust, respect, ethical values, cooperation, responsibility, sense of security, social participation and communicative skills) on marital satisfaction of married students in Islamic Azad University of Isfahan Khorasgan Branch. The research was descriptive correlation study. The statistical population consisted of all 1150 married students, out of whom a sample 288 persons were randomly selected according to Kerjesi & Morgan formula. For collecting the data, two questionnaires were administered, Enrich Standardized Questionnaire of Marital Satisfaction (1979) with 47 items and reliability between 0.48–0.90 according to Olson and Olson (1999) and between 0.50- 0.87 according to Mahdaviyan (1376); and a researcher- made Questionnaire of Social Capital consisted of 51 items with the reliability of 0.75. To analyze the data, regression analysis was applied. The research findings showed that different social capital dimensions including mutual trust, respect, cooperation, ethical values, responsibility, sense of security, social participation and communicative skills have significant effect on marital satisfaction (P£0.0001).

The main purpose of this research was to study the relationship of spirituality in workplace (spiritual craving, spiritual and mystical experience, spiritual connection, sense of community), internal motivation and work engagement (strength, devotion, attraction), with task performance. The type of study was descriptive and the method was correlation. Statistical population included all employees of a healthcare center in the city of Isfahan, from whom, 200 persons were selected via simple random sampling. The research instruments were Spirituality in Workplace (Kinjerski&Skrypnek, 2006), Internal Motivation (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey&Tighe, 1994), Work Engagement (Utrecht, 2002), and Task Performance (Patterson, 1963) questionnaires. Data were analyzed with the use of Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis showed that there are significant positive relationships between spirituality in workplace, internal motivation and work engagement with task performance (P£0.01). Moreover, results of regression analysis showed that the spiritual and mystical experience and the spiritual connection from the components of spirituality at work, the strength from the dimensions of work engagement, and the internal motivation, were able to predict significantly (P£0.01) task performance. Therefore, based on the results it may be concluded that task performance in organizations could be increased by increasing spirituality in workplace, internal motivation and work engagement.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of organizational justice, organizational health, job engagement and innovative organizational climate with psychological empowerment and organizational citizenship behavior in an industrial company employee in the city of Ahvaz. The sample included 400 persones who were selected randomly by stratified sampling procedure based on Krejie&Morgan sampling table. The research tools were Organizational Justice (Niehoff and Moorman, 1993), Organizational Health (Tamiminejad, 1386s.c./2007), Job Engagement (Salanova and Schaufeli, 2001), Innovative Organizational Climate (Cigel and Kaumer, 1978), Psychological Empowerment (Spreitzer, 1995) and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Lee and Allen, 2002). Canonical correlation analysis was applied as statistical procedure. The results showed that the two sets of criterion and predictive variables were significantly correlated in two dimensions (0.84 and 0.19, respectively). Job engagement had the strongest relationship with the first dimension (0.99). Then were organization health (0.77), organization justice (0.71) and innovative organizational climate (0.51). In the second dimension, organization health (-0.46), innovative organizational climate (0.30), organization justice (-0.24) and job engagement (0.08) had the strongest relationships. The analysis outputs also showed that canonical variable had the strongest relationship with psychological empowerment (0.98) then with organizational citizenship behavior (0.78), while the second canonical variable had the strongest correlation with organizational citizenship behavior (0.63) and followed by psychological empowerment (-0.20).

The goal of present study was to investigate the effectiveness of "group positive parenting program" on parental stress of mothers of children, aged six to twelve, with autism disorder in 2012 (1391 s.c.). This semi-experimental study was conducted as pre-test and post-test with control group. Statistical population included all methers of children with autism disorder in the city of Isfahan. From among these mothers, 30 mothers were randomly selected and put into the experimental and control groups of 15 persons each. The parenting Stress index (PSI) questionnaire (Abidin, 1990) was the instrument of this study. First, the pretest was conducted on the two groups. Then, the experimental group was exposed to an eight-session training of group positive parenting program based on Sanders pattern; these sessions were weekly held in group. At the end, the post-test was applied on both groups. The results of Covariance analysis indicated that group positive parenting program has significantly decreased parenting stress in the realm of parents (P<0.05) and the realms of child (P<0.05) and there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the parenting stress of the mothers of children with autism disorder (P<0.05). The mean of stress in the experimental group was lower than the mean of the control group. Also, the mean of competences in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Thus, the effectiveness of group positive parenting program on decreasing the level of parental stress of mothers of children with autism disorder was confirmed.

The aim of the present research was to assess the effectiveness of early educational intervention on number sense of preschool children. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest, and control group. Research statistical population included male children with disabilities in mathematics in Isfahan city in the year 2010-2011. The research sample included 30 male children who had a poor sense of number and were selected using multistage random cluster sampling and were assigned in the two groups of experimental and control randomly. The instruments used were Number Sense Test (Jordan, 2008) and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (Razavi&Shahim, 1972). Experimental intervention (early training interventions based on direct instruction) was held on the experimental group in eight sessions, each session lasted sixty minutes once a week. After completing the training program, post-test was taken from both groups. Results of analysis of covariance showed that early educational intervention was effective in the improvement of sense of number in preschool children (P<0.001).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of social skills group training on strengths and behavioral difficulties in adolescents of veterans and martyrs families. The research design was quasi- experimental with control group. In order to perform, 26 veterans' adolescents daughters )13-16 years( were randomly selected from 26 high school girls in 5 sections of educational system in Isfahan city via random cluster sampling method and then were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The Demographical as well as Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ), were administered to them. The results were analyzed using multicovariate analysis by SPSS16 software. The results showed that in post-test and follow-up (after 4 months), respectively, the means scores of experimental group were significantly higher than control group in strengths (P£0.021) and (P£0.003), but lower in behavioral difficulties in experimental group (P£0.001) and (P£0.004). These findings indicated that social skills group training is effective on increasing strengths and decreasing behavioral difficulties in daughters of veterans and martyrs’ families after four months.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of combined group exposure therapy and coping with stress skills training on social anxiety rate of university students. The research was quasi -experimental comprising of two groups with pre–test and post-test. The statistical population included all university students in the academic year of 2011-2012 in Payamnoor University Branch of Rabor. From among voluntary students, 60 students were selected with administration of Social Phobia Questionnaire (Cannor, 2000) and structured clinical interview for social anxiety, based on diagnostic criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn). Then, 20 students were randomly assigned to two groups (experimental and control groups). The experimental group participated in ten, 2-hours sessions of group exposure therapy accompanied with coping with stress skills training; however, the control group received no intervention. At the end of intervention, the social phobia questionnaire was administered as post-test and two months later as the follow up, The results of analysis of covariance revealed a significant deference in social phobia scores of both groups (P£0.0001) and mean scores of social phobia was higher in control group than in the intervention group both at the post test and follow up stages. The results of this research emphasize on the effectiveness of combined group treatments (exposure therapy and control of stress) on the treatment of social anxiety disorder.

The aim of this research was to investigate the relation of work-family conflict (WFC) with organizational variables of organizational justice and organizational commitment in one hand and subjective wellbeing including vitality in the other hand, in expatriate and normal work schedules of Gas Transfer Operation District Two, and to compare these two groups. Statistical population were formal personnel of the company in 2010, from among them 150 people were selected via classified random sampling from the two groups of expatriates and normal schedules' personnel (n=75 for each group). Participants completed Work-Family (Netmeyer et al., 1996), Vitality (Ryan&Frederick, 1997), Organizational Justice (Niehoff&Moorman, 1993) and Organizational Commitment (Balfour & Wechsler, 1996) questionnaires. Findings indicated that negative relation of WFC with distributive justice (P=0.001), procedural justice (P=0.008), interactive justice (P=0.002), vitality (P=0.018) and organizational commitment (P=0.001) are significant. Findings in expatriate group indicated negative relation of WFC with distributive justice (P=0.001), interactive justice (P=0.003), vitality (P=0.001) and organizational commitment (P=0.001). While in normal schedule group, WFC showed significant negative relation only with procedural justice (P=0.048). Results of Fisher Z test also indicated that WFC in expatriate group has stronger negative relation with vitality, distributive justice, and identification and exchange commitments relative to normal schedule group. (Zt>±1.96).

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of psychological capital on organizational citizenship behavior through Amos software. This study is a descriptive-survey research from the population of 249 faculty members from three faculties of the University of Isfahan, from whom a sample of 98 persons were selected by cluster random sampling. The sample answered the Organizatioan Citizenship Behavior (Netemeyer et al., 1988) and Psychological Capital (Luthans et al., 2007) Questionnaires. The results of path analysis via Amos software indicated that psychological capital have a direct and significant effect on the organizational citizenship behavior (P<0.01). Also psychological capital was effective indirectly with the mediation of organizational citizenship bihavior variable on altruism, concientiousness and civic virtue (P<0.05). But, the effect of psychological capital on sportmanship in the model was not confirmed.