Effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on depression and rumination as a tool for health promotion on mothers with cerebral palsy children.

BACKGROUND: Since in most families, mothers are more responsible for taking care of children and they have more responsibility than fathers for monitoring the child; taking care of a disabled child can have a more negative effect on the psychological state of mothers. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy (BAT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on depression and rumination on mothers with children with cerebral palsy in the city of Ilam. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The design of this research was pretest and post-test quasi-experimental with a control group. The research sample was 60 mothers who referred to occupational therapy centers in the city of Ilam in 2022, who were randomly divided into two experimental groups (N = 40 for each) and a control group (N = 20). One of the experimental groups, received behavioral activation group therapy method; and the other received the group therapy method based on acceptance and commitment for eight sessions lasted for 90 minutes in week. Data were collected using the Beck depression questionnaire (BDI-II) and the rumination questionnaire in two stages before the intervention and after the intervention. In this research, covariance analysis was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The results of covariance analysis showed that behavioral activation therapy and acceptance and commitment-based therapy reduced depression (P < 0.01) and rumination (P < 0.01), and the two experimental groups were compared with the control group in the post-test phase. CONCLUSION: It seems that behavioral activation therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy are effective in reducing depression and rumination in the subjects of the present study. Therefore, these treatments are suggested as complementary treatments along with drug treatments to improve psychological symptoms.

The effectiveness of mindfulness training on coping with stress, exam anxiety, and happiness to promote health.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness as an intervention approach in mental health has been increasingly used to promote health in young people. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness training on coping with stress, test anxiety, and happiness to promote health in female high school students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The design of this study was quasi-experimental with control group, with pretest and posttest. The statistical population of the study included all the female students studying in the secondary high school in the city of Sanandaj in Iran with 2890 students, 40 of whom were selected by simple random sampling method and were randomly assigned to the experimental (20 individuals) and control groups (20 individuals). Participants completed the Oxford Happiness (0.79), Sarason Exam Anxiety (0.87), and Andler and Parker Stress Management (0.81) Questionnaires. The method of intervention was training based on mindfulness. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that in the posttest, a significant difference was seen between the mean scores of the participants of the experimental and control groups in the variables of problem-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidant coping variables (P < 0.05). In addition, the results showed that in the posttest, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of test anxiety; happiness; and happiness components including life satisfaction, self-esteem, active well-being, satisfaction, and positive mood (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the present study, it can be said that mindfulness training is an effective intervention to improve coping styles, test anxiety, and happiness in students.

Performance analysis of data mining algorithms for diagnosing COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of atypical pneumonia termed COVID-19 has widely spread all over the world since the beginning of 2020. In this regard, designing a prediction system for the early detection of COVID-19 is a critical issue in mitigating virus spread. In this study, we have applied selected machine learning techniques to select the best predictive models based on their performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data of 435 suspicious cases with COVID-19 which were recorded from the Imam Khomeini Hospital database between May 9, 2020 and December 20, 2020, have been taken into consideration. The Chi-square method was used to determine the most important features in diagnosing the COVID-19; eight selected data mining algorithms including multilayer perceptron (MLP), J-48, Bayesian Net (Bayes Net), logistic regression, K-star, random forest, Ada-boost, and sequential minimal optimization (SMO) were applied in data mining. Finally, the most appropriate diagnostic model for COVID-19 was obtained based on comparing the performance of the selected algorithms. RESULTS: As the result of using the Chi-square method, 21 variables were identified as the most important diagnostic criteria in COVID-19. The results of evaluating the eight selected data mining algorithms showed that the J-48 with true-positive rate = 0.85, false-positive rate = 0.173, precision = 0.85, recall = 0.85, F-score = 0.85, Matthews Correlation Coefficient = 0.68, and area under the receiver operator characteristics = 0.68, respectively, had the higher performance than the other algorithms. CONCLUSION: The results of evaluating the performance criteria showed that the J-48 can be considered as a suitable computational prediction model for diagnosing COVID-19 disease.

Investigating the Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers' Empowerment and their Self-Efficacy as a Consequence for their Educational Improvement.

INTRODUCTION: Teacher empowerment is thought to improve student learning by fostering teaching quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study is investigating the relationship between empowerment and self-efficacy of Iranian English as Foreign Language teachers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is an experimental study; the population of the study includes all the English language teachers of the universities of Ilam, Iran. Among whom by random sampling, the sample which was consisted of 60 teachers were selected. Participants in this study answered the School Participant Empowerment Scale questionnaire (Short and Rinehart, 1992) as the instrument of the study. The Pearson product-moment correlation was computed to determine the relationship between teacher empowerment and teacher self-efficacy. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a positive correlation between teacher empowerment and their self-efficacy (r = 0.55, P < 0.01) and differences among teachers' self-efficacy is not significant according to age (r = -0.14, P = 0.23). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the study, empowerment and self-efficacy have interactive relationships; i.e. self-efficacy in teachers leads to empowerment and empowerment in teachers leads to self-efficacy.

Relationship between aggression and individual resilience with the mediating role of spirituality in academic students - A path analysis.

BACKGROUND: The importance of spirituality and spiritual growth in humans has been increasingly taken to attention by psychologists and mental health professionals. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the tendency to aggression and individual resilience also considering the role of mediator of spirituality in academic students by path analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using structural equation method (SEM). The target population consisted all of undergraduate academic students in Ilam, Iran University of Applied Sciences, in 2018. Participants included 200 people whom were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection tools were demographic, Buss and Perry aggression, spirituality assessment, and resiliency of Connor and Davidson questionnaire. In this study, bivariate analysis was used to determine the directionality correlation between the study variables. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a significant and positive correlation between spirituality and resilience (r = 154% r = 83%). Furthermore, there was a negative and nonsignificant relationship between aggression with resiliency (r = -122% P = 101). In addition, there was no significant correlation between the aggression and spirituality (r = 0.05%, P = 0.942). The results of SEM showed that spirituality and aggression can predict about 20% of the variations in the degree of resilience in academic students. Accordingly, the results of SEM spirituality in an indirect path reduce the aggression and thus increase the resilience (r = 0.102). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed the effect of spirituality on increasing the level of resilience and also positive mediator role of spirituality between aggression and resiliency.

The effectiveness of an intervention program -barton intervention program- on reading fluency of Iranian students with dyslexia.

BACKGROUND: Difficulty with reading fluency has been increasingly acknowledged as a significant aspect of reading disabilities which is called dyslexia. To investigate this important issue, this research aims to examine the impact of an intervention program on reading fluency of dyslexic students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research is an experimental one. The population of the study included all the second- and third-grade male and female students in the city of Ilam, Iran, among whom 68 students were recognized to be dyslexic using a screening inventory reading test (IRT) developed by Shafiei et al., in 2009, they were selected using purposeful sampling method. The students were equally divided and assigned into a control and an experimental group. The experimental group received the Barton intervention program for 10 weeks. The reading fluency test was administered for the measurement of reading fluency in pre- and post-tests. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and paired t-test. RESULTS: The analysis of the finding through t-test found a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups after the intervention program at P < 0.01. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that the students who received the intervention program of the experimental group were improved in terms of their reading fluency.

Investigation the relationship between internet dependence with anxiety and educational performance of high school students.

BACKGROUND: Internet is one of the most advanced modern communication technologies. Despite the positive uses of internet, the existence of extreme behaviors and its harmful consequences has attracted the attention of all. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between internet addiction with anxiety and educational performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research is a descriptive correlative study. The statistical population of the study includes a total number of 4401 female students in the high school in the city of Ilam-Iran in the academic year of 2017-2018. The sample size includes353 students estimated using Cochran's formula. They were selected by random cluster sampling. For data collection, the Young's Internet Dependency Questionnaire, Academic Performance Inventory, and Marc et al., anxiety Scale were used. Data were analyzed at the significant level of α = 0.05. RESULTS: The results showed a positive and significant correlation between internet dependency and students' anxiety (P < 0.01). There is also a negative and significant correlation between internet dependency and academic performance of students (P < 0.01), and also a negative and significant correlation between anxiety and educational performance of students (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: On the one hand, the results indicate a high prevalence of internet dependency and its significant relationship with anxiety and academic performance in students, and on the other hand, the negative effect of internet dependency on the students' educational performance. Therefore, it is necessary to design some intervention programs to prevent harm to students who are increasingly interacting with internet. In addition, raising the level of the students' awareness on the complications of internet addiction and the proper use of the internet seems to be necessary.

Investigating the relationship between conscientiousness and self-compassion with marital satisfaction among Iranian married employees.

BACKGROUND: Marital satisfaction, conscientiousness, and self-compassion are necessary for successful and lasting marriages. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between marital satisfaction, conscientiousness, and self-compassion among married employees of Shahid Mostafa Khomeini Hospital in the city of Ilam in 2017. METHODOLOGY: This study is a descriptive research with a correlation design. The research population included all 260 married employees of Mostafa Khomeini (I) Hospital in the city of Ilam, among which 150 were selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using three questionnaires of conscientiousness, self-compassions, and marital satisfaction. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and multivariate regression. RESULTS: The research results revealed a positive and significant relationship between conscientiousness and marital satisfaction (P = 0.028 and r = 0.187) and a positive and significant relationship between self-compassion and marital satisfaction (P = 0.000 and r = 0.185). Both conscientiousness and self-compassion variables could predict 51% of the variance of marital satisfaction among married employees. CONCLUSIONS: Given the research results, it could be stated that people who have self-compassion and have a high level of conscientiousness make much effort for their improvement and resolving their committed mistakes. For this reason, they have high motivation to maintain marital relationships.