INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Year:2018 | Volume:12 | Issue:2|Papers Count:6

Introduction: Resilience is the process by which families are able to maintain or regain positive outcomes despite stress and negative emotional experiences. Assessing family resilience is important to identify families’ strengths and vulnerabilities. There are currently no family resilience instruments available for Iranian families. This paper describes the translation and validation of Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ) for being used with Iranian families. Method: The WFRQ was translated into Persian and back-translated. Proportional simple random sampling was used to recruit a representative sample of 350 families selected from a military center in 2017 in Tehran. Total scale and subscale reliability were examined using Cronbach alpha. Test-retest reliability was conducted with 350 adolescents who completed the WFRQ twice with a two-week interval in between and assessed using Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICC). Results: Cronbach alpha coefficients were equal to or greater than 0. 70 for all scales. Test-retest reliability for the overall WFRQ score was excellent (ICC = 0. 83, 95%CI, 0. 76– 0. 93) and very good for family belief system subscales (ICC = 0. 70– 0. 79). Conclusion: The present study provides evidence of good validity, reliability and test-retest reliability of the WFRQ for Iranian families. Further testing, including construct validity, and testing across different contexts will strengthen the evidence. The instrument will have applications in resilience research, educational and clinic settings and could facilitate the development and evaluation of intervention programs to build resilience in Iranian families.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of neurofeedback on selective-divided attention and behavioral disorders in children with hyperactivity. Methods: The semi-experimental method with pretest-posttest and follow up design and a control group was applied. Thirty children with ADHD symptoms were selected among the girls and boys with the age range of 8-12 years old. Participants were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. Data collection was done using Selective Attention and divided Stroop task and Rutter's Behavioral Problems Questionnaire (RBPQ). Results: The results obtained from frequent measure analysis showed that the selective attention of the group receiving neurofeedback has been increased, although the divided attention has been decreased. Moreover, overall behavioral disorders and components showed significant reduction in two steps of pretest, posttest and follow up. However, it showed no significant reduction in eating and sleeping disorders. Conclusion: Neurofeedback can improve selective attention among hyperactive children and can also reduce scattered attention and behavioral disorders. Therefore, it is an effective method to enhance attention and decrease behavioral disorders in children with ADHD.

Introduction: This study, which was framed within the context of a developing country, aimed to evaluate the impact of the Thinking Child problem-solving program on parenting styles and family problem solving skills. Methods: A hundred and four mothers in Tehran voluntarily participated in the Thinking Child sessions, conducted weekly by experienced trainers for 9 sessions. A single group pre-and post-test pilot design was executed. Outcome measures included the Parenting Style Questionnaire and Family Problem Solving Scale. Results: The findings bolstered the effectiveness of the program on problem-solving processes and parents’ relationships with their children specifically, showed a significant reduction in authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and also revealed an increase in permissive parenting style. Conclusion: The Thinking Child intervention displays promising results for trainings involving problem-solving skills in parents. However, it should be used in conjunction with a complementary intervention while parent training is executed.

Research in three last decades has linked religiosity with health and Subjective Well-Being (SWB), suggesting that religion leads to physical and mental health. Recently, it has been shown that science can often do the same. This study aims to investigate the relationship of religiosity and attitudes towards science to SWB. Two hundred and eighteen university students and 122 seminary school students were selected through non-random, convenience sampling and filled out the following scales: Scientific Attitude Assessment scale (SAAS), Spirituality Self-Rating Scale (SSRS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). Results showed that religiosity was positively correlated with happiness and life satisfaction. Religious people reported more positive attitudes towards science, showing that at the personal level they do not see much of a conflict between their religion and contemporary science. Life satisfaction and happiness were also positively associated with positive attitudes towards science. While seminary school students reported higher levels of religiosity, university students reported higher scores on extrinsic attitudes towards science but not intrinsic attitudes. These results demonstrated the positive links between religiosity and attitudes towards science, suggesting that both religion and science can contribute to SWB.

Introduction: The aging phenomenon is caused by the natural time course leading to physiological, psychological and social changes, and is usually associated with death anxiety and sense of aging. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of optimist memory telling on death anxiety and sense of aging in elderly people. Methods: This study was a semi-experimental research through pre-post-test with a control group. The statistical population included all the elderly residents of nursing homes in Kermanshah during 2017, among which 40 people were randomly selected and were assigned to two groups of experimental and control (each group of 20). The experimental group participated in 8 sessions of optimist memory telling treatment, each lasting for 60 min. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21, covariance analysis method, and T-test. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean death anxiety and the sense of aging in the experimental and control groups. In other words, training optimist memory telling reduced the anxiety caused by death and the sense of aging in the elderly (P< 0. 05). Conclusion: Considering the effect of training optimist memory telling on decreasing death anxiety and the aging sensation of the elderly, it is recommended that therapists and psychologists use this method to reduce death anxiety and the sense of aging in the elderly.

Introduction: Avoiding close relationships and fear of intimacy may have devastating effects on a person’ s emotional and psychological well-being. Hence, the present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy and Gottman’ s relationships enrichment program on women’ s fear of intimacy. Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental field research with a control group as well as three-months follow-up. The statistical population consisted of women in Khomein city who referred to a counseling center in 2017. Among them, 36 women were selected by convenience sampling method, and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. To collect the data, the Fear of Intimacy Scale was used. Results: The results indicated that both training interventions are effective in fear of intimacy among women (P≥ 0. 01). Bonferroni’ s post ad hoc test showed that the emotion-focused couple therapy is more effective than Gottman’ s enrichment approach on fear of intimacy and its aspects (P≥ 0. 05). Also, the difference between the two experimental groups and controls was significant in post-test (P≥ 0. 05). Results in the follow-up phase also showed that both experimental groups had lower mean values compared to the control group in terms of fear of intimacy and its aspects, indicating a reduction in fear of intimacy and survival of the intervention. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, both treatments can reduce the fear of intimacy in women, and the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy is higher than that of Gottman’ s relationships enrichment approach.