Journal of Child Mental Health
Year:2018 | Volume:5 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:14

Background and Purpose: Obsessive-Compulsive symptomes and aggression cause significant impairement in emotional and social function in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and it is necessary to study the appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic methods for this group of children. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of neurofeedback on aggression and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in male students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Methods: The method of this study was quasi-experimental with framework of pre-test and post-test researches. The statistical population in this research consisted of students with attention deficit- hyperactivity disorder that was referred to psychological services and counselling centers in Tehran in 2016. The sample consisted of 24 students aged 10 to 14 years’ old who were selected by conveniant sampling method and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research tools including Conner’s ADHD Rating Scale (1999), Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (1989) and Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire (1992) were used through pre-test and post-test. The interventional neurofeedback program was performed for for 33 consecutive weeks in 3 half-hour sessions per week. The collected data was analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and ANCOVA.Results: The present research revealed that neurofeedback treatment resulted in a significant reduction in all components of aggression scores and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (P<0.05).Conclusion: According to the results of the study, neurofeedback treatment seems to be an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive symptoms and aggression among students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Background and Purpose: Students with intellectual disabilities are among those who are weak in the ability to cope with social problems and encounter many problems when confront with social situations. The purpose of the present study was to compare the social problems solving ability in girl students with intellectual disability and normally developing peers.Method: The research method was causal-comparative study. The sample size of this study included 134 subjects (67 students with intellectual disability and 67 normally developing students) that subjects with intellectual disability were selected by convenience sampling method and normally developing subjects were selected by multi-stage random sampling method from public and special education centers.Social problem-solving inventory-revised (SPSI-R) (D’Zurilla et al, 2002) was used to gather of data. The collected data were analyzed using independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance.Results: The results showed that girl students with intellectual disability and normally developing peers had a significant difference in the total score of social problem solving ability and its subscales (P<0.01). This means that students with intellectual disability in the total score of social problem solving and its subscales were weaker than normally developing peers.Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that intellectual disability, in addition to the negative effect on cognitive function, also affects social development. Therefore, the teaching of the ability to solve social problems to students with intellectual disabilities in different environments as well as the empowerment of their families is necessary.

Background and Purpose: The broad concept of risk behavior is including a series of behaviors which brought serious losses not only for involved person and important people in his life, but is caused inadvertent damage to innocent people. The most common risky behaviors are including risky driving, running away from home, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviors, alcohol and drugs, smoking, unhealthy dietary habits and lack of physical activity. Generally according to importance of prevention of risky behavior in adolescents, present research aims to investigate the role of emotionality and self-control ability in explaining risky behavior in female high school students.Method: The design of this study was descriptive with correlational method and the research population included all female high school students in Rasht in the academic year 2015-2016, 250 of whom were selected by convenient sampling method. Zuckerman's trait sensation-seeking scale (1971), self-control questionnaire (Tanji & Bamister (1994), and risky behavior questionnaire (Zadeh Mohammadi, Ahmad Abadi & Heydari, 2010) were used as a research tools. Data analysis was performed using correlation and multiple regression.Results: Analysis of present research indicate there is a significant relationship between self-control and emotionality with risky behaviors (p<0.01). The results indicate emotionality and self-control can predict 12% of risky behaviors (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Emotions are revealed much faster than logic and cognition, so they can lead to high-risk behaviors, but self-control by helping to regulate emotions in an appropriate manner and modifying them reduces risky behaviors.

Background and Purpose: Academic burnout is one of the important indicators of mental health among educated people and has negative effects on the psychological well-being of students and their families. The purpose of this study was explaining students' academic burnout based on self-compassion and sense of coherence.Method: The research method was descriptive and correlational. The sample consisted of 373 students in Ardebil city in the academic year of 2016-2017 who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling.Academic burnout scale (Berso et al, 1997), sense of coherence questionnaire (Antonovsky, 1987) and self- compassion scale (Neff, 2003) were used as a research tools. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and multiple regression analysis.Results: The effect of comprehensibility (b=-0.067: p<0.003), self- kindness (b=-0.167: p<0.012), mindfulness (b=-0.317: p<0.001) on academic burnout is positive and significant and effect of isolation (b=0.745: p<0.001) on academic burnout is negative and significant.In addition, self-compassion and sense of coherence predicted 89% and 86% of variance of academic burnout scores of students (p<0.001).Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, self-compassion and sense of coherence by providing effective coping strategies in the face of academic stress and creating academic motivation affect students' academic achievement and reduce their academic burnout.

Background and Purpose: In recent years, anxiety disorders have been widespread among children and have reduced the quality of life in them. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation training on improving the symptoms of anxiety in children.Method: The research method is semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with control group. The statistical population included all children aged 8 to 12 years old with anxiety disorder who were studying in the second to sixth grade in the academic year of 2016 in Shiraz. Among them, 30 subjects were selected through purposeful sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The research instrument was the children anxiety scale (Spence, 1988) and Smart driver plus (2017), which was used as a cognitive rehabilitation tool. Data were analyzed by repeated measure of covariance.Results: The findings showed that cognitive rehabilitation significantly reduced the total score of anxiety, separation anxiety, and general anxiety (P<0.01), but there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of physical harm phobia, social phobia and obsessive thoughts between two groups.Conclusion: Overall, the results showed that cognitive rehabilitation can improve and enhance the cognitive skills of children and thus affect the reduction of anxiety disorders.

Background and Purpose: The parenting style has a significant impact on many aspects of children's lives. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the positive parenting education based on Sanders' approach on happiness and parent-child conflict of students.Method The research method is semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test design with control group. The statistical population consisted of all male secondary school students in Shiraz during the academic year of 2016-2017. Using a multi-stage sampling method, 30 mothers whose children had low score in the happiness and a high score in parent-child conflict, were selected and assigned into experimental and control groups randomly. Data were collected by Oxford Happiness Inventory (Argyll and Levy, 1990) and Strauss's parent-child conflict questionnaire (1996). The positive parenting style was taught to the experimental group in 8 sessions. Data analysis was performed by using covariance analysis.Results: The results showed that positive parenting education based on Saunders' approach had a significant effect on increasing happiness and reducing parent-child conflict in students (P<0.05).Conclusion: Overall, the results of this study confirm and emphasize the usefulness of positive parenting education because of its role in health and happiness and reduction of parent-child conflict.

Background and Purpose: Previous studies have shown that parents play an important role in the behavioral problems of children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of parental psychological aggression and physical punishment in relationship of parenting styles with bullying.Method: The present study is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population consisted of all first grade high school students of Astaneh-Ashrafiyeh city in the academic year of 2016-2017.295 students (150 female and 145 male) were selected using multistage cluster sampling method. The participants completed the parenting styles questionnaire (Oliva et al, 2007), discipline dimensions inventory (Straus & Fauchier, 2007), and bullying intervention questionnaire(Brigui et al, 2012). Data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling.Results: The findings indicated that parental psychological aggression and physical punishment in the relationship between parental styles and bullying have indirect effects and the role of mediation in the relationship between parenting styles and adolescence’ bullying.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that parenting styles can affect children's behaviors. Therefore, there should be interventions to inform parents about the importance of their parenting role. Therefore, there should be interventions to inform parents about the importance of their parenting styles.

Background and Purpose: Academic performance is a multi-dimensional element and is subtly related to metacognition and problem solving. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between metacognition and academic performance by mediating problem solving.Method: The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all the high school students in Khoram Darreh city in the academic year of 2016-2017 that among them 300 students were selected by stratified random sampling method. The research instruments were, the metacognitions questionnaire (MCQ), problem solving inventory (PSI) and academic average index (AA). Data analysis was carried out using structural equations modeling using SPSS software (version 18) and AMOS software (version 20).Results: According to the structural equation model, relationships between variables had acceptable fit and the results showed that there is a significant relationship between metacognition with problem solving (p£0.001), metacognition with academic performance (p£0.001), and problem solving with academic performance (P=0.003).Conclusion: Using problem solving skills and metacognition can lead to significant learning outcomes in students. Therefore, by reinforcing meta-cognitive beliefs and problem-solving skills, while enhancing students' academic performance, the conditions for the accurate recognition of capabilities, abilities and weaknesses can be achieved.

Background and Purpose: Cooperative learning method has been emphasized as an effective educational strategy by many researchers, but there are few qualitative researches on the results of its application. Therefore, the study of collaborative learning experiences in students can be effective in identifying strategies for increasing productivity and effectiveness of this approach.The purpose of this study was to explain the experiences of students in Jigsaw collaborative learning method.Method: 17 high school students who were trained in psychology courses by Jigsaw method participated in this qualitative study. Data were collected by unstructured and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim.Results: Interviews were analyzed using 7 steps Colaizzi (1987) method. The main themes extracted from data analysis included five themes of intrinsic motivation, social skils, learning, facilitator, and inhibitor factors.Conclusion: In this way, the environment supports the freedom of action of students and facilitates their learning. In addition, the students considered the existence of irrationality, the unwittingness of some students and unfamiliarity with this method as one of the factors that reduced its effectiveness. According to the viewpoints of students, lack of motivation, lack of motivation and unfamiliarity with this method are the factors that reduce the effectiveness of this method.

Background and Purpose: The acquisition of social skills from childhood is essential for constructive interaction with others and optimal social adjustment. One of the effective ways to teach these skills is role-playing method. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of role-playing teaching on self-esteem and adaptation of female elementary school students.Method: The method of this study was experimental. The statistical population of this study included all 3rd to 5th grade elementary girls from Khalkhal city in the academic year 2016-2017. In the screening stage, based on the required score inself-esteem questionnaire (Cooper Smith, 1967) and adjustment inventory questionnaire (Sinha & Singh, 1993), among 308 students (178), 30 were selected by random cluster sampling method. They were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (15 subjects in each group).Results: The results of univariate covariance analysis showed that role-playing method has a significant effect on self-esteem and adjustment of students (p<0.001). The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that education through role play has a significant effect on each components of self-esteem (general, family, educational, and social) and adjustement (emotional, social, and academic) (p<0.001).Conclusion: The role-playing by providing an enjoyable environment for learning, increases self-esteem and adjustment of students, and providing them with the opportunity to use the learned skills in the real-life environments.

Background and Purpose: Development in first years of life is very important and different from later years and has major effect on future life. Three domains of early child development have been recognized in healthy life course: physical, social-emotional, and linguistic-cognitive.The purpose of this research was to determine social-emotional skills development of children aged 1-4 years in Tehran kindergartens.Method: For this research survey-developmental research, 138 children aged 1-4 years (boy 70, girl 68) were randomly selected from six kindergartens of different areas in Tehran.The development of social-emotional skills of these children based on interviews with mothers and teachers and observation of children was identified in the chart of development of social emotional skills. Data was analyzed by using of descriptive statistical methods, Kolmogorov-Smirnov single-sample test and single-sample t-test.Results: Results indicated that there was significant difference between social-emotional skills score of 1-2 years old children and the criterion scores but this difference is not significant in other groups.Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it can be said that the development of social emotional skills of 1-2 year old children has been less attention and it seems that cultural-social educational factors play an important role in this ignore.

Background and Purpose: Problems with the care of a child with ADHD, puts parents at risk of psychological damage, especially for the mother. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of compassion- focused group therapy on quality of life and change in the goals and priorities of mothers of children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder.Method: The research method was a semi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test design with control group. The statistical papulation included mothers of children with ADHD, who were referred to Khorshid Hospital in the spring of 2017.20 mothers were selected through purposeful sampling and randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups (each group was 10). For both groups, the pretest was performed. The experimental group received compassion therapy for 8 sessions of 90 minutes and one week after the intervention, both groups performed a post-test. Data were gathered using MOS 36-item short-form health survey (Wier and Sherbun 1992), (SF-36), and change in the goals and priorities scale (PTGI) (Tedschi and Kalahoun, 1996).Results: The results of covariance analysis showed there was significant difference in quality of life and its dimension (physical function, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, social function, pain and general health) and change in the goals and priorities of mothers of hyperactive children (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in role disorder due to physical health and role disorder due to emotional health.Conclusion: The compassion-focused therapy group can be used to improve the quality of life and change the goals and priorities of mothers of children with attention deficit / hypertensive disorders.

Background and Purpose: Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. One of the potential risks to children is child abuse. Abused children experience many negative consequences, in various areas of social, educational, family, occupation and in more specific forms, including psychological and nervous-biological health. Among these, damage caused by child abuse on the person's nervous system is more visible than others, and in the present article, we have tried to investigate it specifically.Method: Data collecting has been done in a simple overview method. In such a way that by searching for texts published on internal and external databases, it has been attempted to collect, categorize and report relevant findings in the field of neurobiological effects of child abuse.Results: In general, it can be considered in two areas: structural and functional damage in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, pineal, pituitary and cerebellum. Also, the neurobiological mechanism of response to psychological stress caused by child abuse in: 1. The autoimmune system (SNS), 2. The serotonin device, and the Lambian-hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis (LHPA), is shown. And, at the end, the negative effects of unpleasant experiences on the immune system have been proven.Conclusion: Overall, the studies indicate the comprehensive and long-term impact of psychological stress and childhood abuse on the neurobiological system, and subsequently cognitive-behavioral and developmental processes of the child.