International Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences

Background and Aim:Diagnosing children's cancer can cause significant disruptions in the child and family life, putting parents and children at risk for psychosocial problems, including reduced quality of life through increased anxiety, stress, and depression, which necessitates solutions like emotion-focused therapy (EFT) to reduce complications. This research investigated the effectiveness of EFT in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression in couples with children with cancer.

Materials and Methods:The research used a semi-experimental method with a pretest-posttest design, control and experimental groups, and a three-month follow-up. The statistical population of the study included 40 couples with a child with cancer in Ferdous City. The collected data were analyzed utilizing inferential statistics and a step-by-step regression analysis under the normality assumption. Data were analyzed using statistical techniques (descriptive, inferential) and SPSS22. The research hypotheses were investigated utilizing ANCOVA and MANCOVA.

Results:With the pretest control of the test significance levels, there was a significant difference between the couples with a child with cancer in the experimental and control groups concerning anxiety, stress, and depression reduction (P<0.001, F-5.299). The respective differences of 19.78, 20.50, and 44.67 for anxiety, stress, and 44.67 for depression highlight the significant effect of EFT on anxiety, stress, and depression of the experimental group at a 95% confidence level and p<0.05.

Conclusion:EFT affects and reduces the anxiety, stress, and depression of couples with children with cancer. The emotion-based developed package created a safe space to resolve past wounds and increase awareness, expression, and acceptance of repressed emotions, leading to a new meaning for life and adjusting the disease through a different perspective toward emotions caused by mental turmoil and anxiety.

Background and Aim:Rapid technological advances have led to increased use of cyberspace among medical students. Despite the benefits, there are concerns about the unwanted effects of excessive use of cyberspace on mental health. Depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental health disorders worldwide, have been of particular interest in this context. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of depression and anxiety among medical students and explore its association with Cyberspace use.

Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 355 medical students of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences using stratified random sampling. Data was collected through the following instruments: Demographic Information Questionnaire, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Data analysis was conducted utilizing SPSS software version 26. Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests (Spearman’s correlation coefficient) were employed.

Results:The results revealed that 27.3% of participants exhibited severe depression, 13% displayed severe anxiety, and 10.7% manifested symptoms of internet addiction. There was a positive association among depression, anxiety, and internet addiction (P<0.0001). Additionally, an inverse notable disparity between internet addiction and educational level was discovered (P<0.05). Also, a significant correlation was shown between depression, anxiety, internet addiction, and marital status (P<0.05).

Conclusion:The study indicated a notable correlation between cyberspace usage and the prevalence of depression and anxiety in medical students. Additional research is necessary to develop productive interventions that target the potential negative impacts of cyberspace usage on the mental well-being of medical students, consequently advancing the community healthcare system.

Background and Aim:The Internet has become an integral part of human life. One field that is dramatically expanding is internet gaming, which can be harmful to those who overplay. The aim of this study is to examine the correlation between internet gaming disorder, stress, and obsessive-compulsive disorder among high school students in Tehran.

Materials and Methods:This study used a descriptive survey-based data collection method. The research population consisted of all students who studied in Tehran during the research. The sample included 122 students who were selected by the convenient sampling method. The research instruments were the Internet Gaming Disorder Test-10 (IGDT-10), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Obsessive Belief Questionnaire-Child Version (OBQ-CV). Descriptive statistics, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression were used to analyze data

.Results:The results showed a significant correlation between IGD and perceived stress, with a correlation coefficient of 0.645 (P<0.01). In contrast, there was a negative association between IGD and obsessional beliefs, but the correlation was not significant with a correlation coefficient of 0.014 and a significance level of 0.88 (P<0.01). Furthermore, the impact of the predictor variables on the dependent variable is statistically accepted. Based on the R2 coefficient of 0.457, this model can explain more than 47% of the variance in IGD. Additionally, perceived stress has a Beta coefficient of 0.663, which confirms the hypothesis that perceived stress predicts IGD positively (P<0.01). In contrast, obsessional beliefs have a Beta coefficient of 0.123, which means they cannot significantly predict IGD.

Conclusion:It seems IGD is significantly related to perceived stress, and those with higher stress are more prone to IGD symptoms. Meanwhile, there is no correlation with obsessional beliefs. IGD appears to be more characterized by impulsivity than compulsivity. If the hallmark of behavioral addictions is the initial impulsivity followed by compulsivity, IGD may be more akin to an impulse-control disorder than a behavioral addiction.

Background and Aim:This systematic review and meta-analysis summarized the studies that evaluated the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on biological measures in Iranians with type 2 diabetes. In addition, the study determined the combined effect size of the varying effect sizes observed in various studies.

Materials and Methods:A systematic search of Iranian scientific databases, including insane.ir, Magiran, SID, Noormags, and ISC, from 2013 to 2023, retrieved randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on biological measures in type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted based on the main PRISMA reporting guideline (the PRISMA 2020 statement), and a meta-analysis report was generated by reviewing the studies that met the inclusion criteria.

Results:Among the 26 studies, 10 were deemed suitable for inclusion based on the PRISMA statement, while the remaining 16 were excluded. The effect size of acceptance and commitment therapy on the biological markers in type 2 diabetes was 0.767, indicating a significant effect. The average effect sizes for fasting blood glucose (FBS), 2-hour postprandial glucose (2HPP), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were 0.798, 0.586, and 0.711, respectively. These effect sizes suggest a significant effect for FBS, a relatively strong impact for 2HPP, and a strong effect for HbA1c.

Conclusion:Acceptance and commitment therapy significantly improve the biological measures of patients with type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, its impact on FBS and HbA1c indices exceeds that of HPP2.

Background and Aim:eating disorder is one public health problem with increasing prevalence during the last few decades. Therefore, the present study was  aimed to investigate the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation in the relationship between cognitive flexibility and social anxiety and the perceived anxiety control in people with eating disorder symptoms.

Materials and Methods:The method of the present research was of descreaptive-structural equations. The statistical population of the research was included all the people who referred to health and counseling centers in Tehran, among them 384 people with symptoms of eating disorder (based on a semi-structured clinical interview based on DSM5 criteria)  selected through purposive sampling. The tools used in the research included questionnaires of social anxiety, cognitive flexibility, perceived anxiety control and cognitive  emotion regulation. Pearson correlation method, structural modeling and partial least square algorithm (PLS) were used for data analysis.

Results:The results indicated the fitness of the research model. The findings showed that cognitive flexibility has a direct effect on social anxiety and perceived anxiety control (p<0.001). Also, cognitive flexibility has an indirect effect on social anxiety and perceived anxiety control through cognitive  emotion regulation (p<0.001).

Conclusion:According to the findings of the present study, cognitive flexibility and cognitive  emotion regulation play a key role in predicting social anxiety and the perception of anxiety control, and counseling and psychotherapy centers there is need for pay more attention to these variables in people with symptoms of eating disorder.

Background and Aim:Personality changes (PCs) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) can exacerbate a frequently widespread range of symptoms, including problems in behavioral responses and emotion and reduced activity levels. This study aimed to systematically review the PCs in people with mild to severe TBI.

Materials and Methods:A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar using MeSH and free text terms between 1998 and 2024. Of the 1160 articles identified, 768 studies remained after duplicate studies were removed. The abstracts and full text of the search results were screened using Rayyan QCRI Intelligent Systematic Review.

Results:A final 67 studies were retrieved for full-text screening that met the inclusion criteria. After renewed screening, 27 studies were included in this review. The pooled sample size was 50369 participants aged 16-79 years. In addition, 25, 11, and 3 percent of the studies included all intense, severe, and mild TBI, respectively. Although several studies recognized personality changes between 3.5 and 88% in individuals with TBI, aggressiveness with 33% frequency is the most common personality change following traumatic brain injury in all intensities.

Conclusion:Research showed that changes in personality and behavior can be due to the injury at a natural level, as well as the patient's response to the injury and the subsequent disabilities they may encounter. Moreover, the high frequency of reported personality disorders indicates that there is no distinct personality syndrome after TBI, which is personalized for each person and has an effect on their quality of life and daily functioning. Hence, to accurately diagnose and implement treatment interventions early and effectively, it is crucial to acknowledge and explain the symptoms, outcomes, phenomenology, and characteristics of deficits caused by TBI.

Background and Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim of designing and investigating goal-orientation based motivation training theory on academic conflict and procrastination of secondary school students.

Material and Method: The statistical population was female students of second secondary level in Yazd city in 1401. The sample included 30 people (15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group) who were randomly selected. The tools of the present research included Reeve & Tseng’s Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ) and Solomon's academic procrastination questionnaire (APQ). The research design is semi-experimental and the people of the sample group were randomly placed in the designed training sessions. Motivation package training based on goal orientation was implemented in 12-90-minute sessions. After the end of the twelfth session, the questionnaires were completed again as a post-test. The pre-test and post-test were also conducted by the control group. No intervention was done on the control group. Then the data was analyzed using spss-22 software. Multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: The findings showed that the goal-based orientation motivation package training is effective on academic engagement and procrastination of secondary school girl students.

Conclusion: Considering the effect of goal-orientation based motivation trainingon increasing academic engagement and reducing academic procrastination of students, this method can be used to improve the performance of academic variables in students.