Assessment and Research in Applied Counseling
Year:2020 | Volume:2 | Issue:1 (3)|Papers Count:6

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of group reality therapy on positive and negative affect and marital satisfaction of infertile women in Isfahan. Methods: The study was quasi-experimental and had a pretest-posttest design with a control group and a 45-day follow-up period. The statistical population consisted of 240 infertile women in Isfahan in 2016, among whom we selected 30 women using convenience sampling and randomly assigned them to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received Glasser's Reality Therapy intervention for ten 90-minute sessions, while the control group did not receive any therapy. At the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages, both groups completed the Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS) (Enrich et al., 1989) and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) (Watson et al., 1988). We used the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze data. Results: The results indicated that group reality therapy training affected maritalsatisfaction in the post-test and follow-up (p=0. 002, F=12. 27). Furthermore, group training had significantly increased in terms of positive affect (p=0. 001, F=13. 91) and significantly decreased in terms of negative affect (p=0. 000, F=16. 34). Conclusion: The results supported the effectiveness of group training programs by reality therapy in the prevention of marital conflicts.

aim: The present study aimed to examine the roles of cancer-related lifestyle and psychological disturbance in the functional disability of patients with breast cancer. Methods: The present study was descriptive and correlational and its statistical population consisted of patients with breast cancer who visited Shohada Hospital in Tehran from March 2017 to May 2018. Among 127 women with breast cancer, we selected 100 ones by convenience sampling and according to Morgan's table, and they answered lifestyle, psychological disturbance, and selfhandicapping questionnaires. We analyzed data using correlation coefficients, simple and multiple regressions. Results: The results indicated that the factors of responsibility for health, stress management, interpersonal support, and psychological disturbance had significant relationships with functional disability (p<0. 05), and there was a significant positive relationship between psychological disturbance and functional disability (p<0. 01). Furthermore, lifestyle and psychosocial disturbance significantly predicted subscales of functional disability, and lifestyle and psychological disturbance had the highest correlation with negative mood. Conclusion: According to the standardized focal coefficients, a person with high scores in subscales of lifestyle had lower scores in subscales of functional disability than other people. Lifestyle subscales also had the highest correlation with negative mood.

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effect of mindfulness-based group counseling on sleep quality and rumination of older men in Isfahan. Methods: The present study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population consisted of 30 elderly retirees of the Social Security Organization in Isfahan in 2019 and they had obtained higher scores in rumination questionnaire by Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow (1990) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (1989) and we put them randomly into two 15-individual experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the intervention of mindfulness techniques for eight 90-minute sessions, and the results were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: It was found that teaching mindfulness techniques decreased rumination (P=0. 007, F=13. 99) and improved sleep quality (P=0. 001, F=8. 41) in the older people of the experimental group. Conclusion: It seems that reducing sleep quality decreased the quality of life for older people; hence, teaching methods such as mindfulness in addition to the reduction of rumination could be effective in improving the quality of sleep in older people.

Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion-enriched acceptance and commitment therapy on quality of life and life expectancy in housewives. Methods: The research was a quasi-experimental study that was conducted by the pretest-posttest method with a control group. The statistical population consisted of housewives in District 22 of Tehran. To determine the sample size among housewives, who visited the Neighborhood House and health house, we implemented the quality of life questionnaires (World Health Organization) and Snyder's Hope Scale (1991) for screening. Among those with higher scores (according to the cut-off point) in the test, we selected a research sample of 36 individuals using the random sampling method and put them into experimental and control groups (18 individuals per group). The members of the experimental group participated in eight 90-minute sessions in the compassion-enriched acceptance and commitment therapy sessions. At the end of the education, the questionnaires were reimplemented for both groups. We analyzed the data resulting from pretest-posttest using analysis of covariance. Results: Data analysis indicated that compassion-enriched acceptance and commitment therapy significantly increased quality of life (P=0. 001, F= 91. 65) and hope (P=0. 001, F=15. 41) in the participants of the experimental group compared with the control group. Conclusion: The results indicated that compassion-enriched acceptance and commitment therapy increased quality of life and hope in housewives, indicating new horizons in clinical interventions; hence, it can be used as an effective intervention method to increase the quality of life and hope.

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of behavioral empowerment training on improving the mother-child relationship and parenting selfefficacy beliefs of female household heads. Methods: The present quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of female household heads under the protection of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation in Shahrud. After reviewing the research population and the female household heads, we selected 30 mothers with lower scores in self-efficacy and parent-child relationship questionnaires as the research samples using convenience sampling and put them randomly into 15individual experimental and control groups, and the experimental received 8 group-based behavioral empowerment training sessions. We used the analysis of covariance to analyze data. Results: The results indicated that behavioral empowerment training for mothers significantly increased parenting self-efficacy beliefs (P=0. 04, F=3. 19) and it significantly increased the parent-child relationship in parents (P=0. 01, F=7. 53). Conclusion: Based on the results, behavioral empowerment training for mothers promoted parenting self-efficacy beliefs and the parent-child relationship.

Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of parent-child relationship-based play therapy in improving parent-child conflict and maternal parenting self-efficacy. Methods: The present quasi-experimental study had a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of the Iranmehr kindergarten children and their mothers in 2019. Using convenience sampling, we selected 30 children and mothers from Iranmehr kindergarten after screening the parent-child conflict scale (Pianta, 1994) and the parenting selfefficacy questionnaire (Domka et al., 1996) and put them randomly into experimental (15 children and mothers) and control group (15 mothers and children) groups. We used the multivariate analysis of covariance to analyze data. Results: The results indicated that play therapy based on the mother-child relationship significantly increased parenting self-efficacy (P=0. 020, F=6. 19). The training also significantly increased the parent-child relationship (P=0. 001, F=28. 93). Conclusion: According to the results, the parent-child relationship-based play therapy promoted parenting selfefficacy and the parent-child relationship.