مجله سلامت جامعه
سال چهاردهم شماره 3 (پاییز 1399)

Migraine is one of the most important headaches related to health, affecting the quality of life. Therefore, it is essential to study this phenomenon and its treatment methods. Thus, this study aims to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness training and transcranial direct current stimulation on the quality of life of women with migraine headaches.

The present study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of all women referring to specialized neurology clinics in the west of Tehran in 2020. Among this population, 45 people with migraine were selected as study groups by purposive sampling method. All of them completed the quality of life questionnaire before the interventions. The experimental groups then received mindfulness and TDCS interventions, and the control group did not receive any intervention. Finally, all three groups received post-test. After data collection, data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed a significant difference in the quality of life and all its components between the three groups of mindfulness therapy, TDCS, and the control group. This rate was significant for the component of mental health at the level of p < 0.05 and other components and the total quality of life score at the level of p < 0.01. A significant difference (p < 0.01) was observed between the mindfulness group and the control group and between the TDCS group and the control group; however, there was no significant difference between the TDCS group and the mindfulness group in the quality of life variable.

The mindfulness and TDCS therapies are effective in treating migraine headaches, and the knowledge of health professionals about these therapies can be helpful.

Depression is one of the disorders that can cause serious problems for teenage girls. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy on the psychological capital of female students with depression.

This study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest control design. The research sample was 54 female students with depression at high school (second-grade) in Esfahan in 2019. They were randomly assigned to three groups of mindful self-acceptance therapy, positive psychotherapy, and control group. The measurement instrument was the psychological Capital Questionnaire of Nguyen & colleagues. The experimental groups received 10 sessions of mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy. The data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate covariance.

The results showed a significant difference between mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy with the control group in psychological capital (F=25.049, p<0.001) and two components, hope (F=5/012, p<0.001) and resiliency (F= 4.867, p<0.001). Also, a significant difference was between mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy in psychological capital and their components (p<0.001).

Mindful self-acceptance therapy and positive psychotherapy effectively increase psychological capital in female students with depression. Thus, training them can promote positive strengths to cope with depression.

Breast cancer psychologically affects women more than other cancers. Further, it is the most common cause of cancer deaths in women. The present study aims to determine the effect of behavioral therapy on rumination and pain-related anxiety in women with breast cancer.

This research was a semi-experimental posttest-pretest control group design with a 45-days follow-up. For this purpose, among women with breast cancer referred to cancer clinics of Isfahan in the spring of 2018, 24 people were selected by the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (12 in each). The participants responded to the questionnaires of the rumination (Nullen et al.) and the pain-associated anxiety (McCraken et al.). Subjects in the experimental group received behavioral activation therapy in 8 sessions of 90 minutes once a week.

Results of variance analysis for repeated measures showed that the interaction of time effect and group membership in rumination and anxiety dimensions related to pain was significant (p < 0.05(. The results also showed a significant difference between behavioral activation therapy and control group in research variables in both posttest (except for posttest of physiological symptoms) and follow-up (p < 0.05(.

According to this research results, behavioral activation therapy can be used to improve pain-related psychological variables in people with breast cancer.

Patients with chronic joint pain experience frequent anxiety and insomnia. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness in improving chronic insomnia disorder and brain wave patterns of male patients with chronic pain in Tabriz.

This study was a semi-experimental project. The statistical population of the study was all male patients with chronic insomnia and pain in Tabriz in 2019. The sample of people eligible according to the diagnosis of a psychiatrist was selected from the psychiatric clinics of Tabriz. This sample consisted of 30 individuals who were randomly divided into two groups of 15 patients each. Fifteen people received mindfulness-based therapy in 8 sessions (1 weekly 90-minute session for 8 weeks), and no intervention was performed for 15 control group members. The collected information was analyzed using descriptive statistical methods of mean and standard deviation and inferential statistical methods of multivariate covariance analysis.

According to the results, mindfulness improved chronic insomnia and pain, besides changing the brain wave patterns in delta and beta frequencies in these patients (p<0/001).

The findings of this study suggest that mindfulness training reduces chronic insomnia and improves brain waves in patients with chronic pain.

Learned helplessness is one of the factors leading to undesirable consequences in patients with heart failure. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of self-care training on learned helplessness in patients with heart failure.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 40 heart failure patients in Class II and III referred to the Teaching and Treatment Center of Dr. Heshmat Hospital in Rasht from January 2020 to April 2020.  The patients were randomly divided into control and intervention groups (20 per each group) via randomized blocked sampling. The tool consisted of a learned helplessness questionnaire and face-to-face self-training in 6 one-hour sessions within 3 days in a week. For descriptive statistics, mean, median, standard deviation, frequency, and percent were used; also, for inferential statistics, independent t-test, paired t-test, chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher's exact test were applied.

According to the results, no significant difference was observed in the mean score of helplessness between the two groups before intervention (p= 0.531). However, after the intervention, the helplessness score was significantly less in the intervention group than the control (p= 0.048). Also, the mean scores of helplessness before and after the intervention were not significantly different in the control group (p= 0.912). However, it was significantly reduced in the intervention group (p= 0.037).

Self-care training could be effective in the learned helplessness score improved in clients with heart failure.

Aging is associated with impaired biological function, leading to various diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular failure. Regular aerobic exercise and green tea extract with antioxidant properties can reduce the effects of aging. This study aims to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise and consumption of green tea extract on the levels of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in the heart tissue of aged male rats.

32 aged male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, exercise, supplement, and exercise+ supplement. Exercise groups performed aerobic exercise at an intensity of 60-75% of vo2peak for 12 weeks and 5 days per week; meantime, the supplementary groups consumed green tea extract. The immunohistochemistry method was used to measure the expression of Bax and Bcl-2. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test. The significance level was considered p<0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using Spss 24 software.

The results showed that Bax expression was significantly lower in the exercise group ((p=0.031)), supplement group ((p=0.002)), and exercise + supplement group ((p=0.000)) than the control group. Also, Bcl-2 expression was significantly higher in the exercise+ supplement group ((p=0.036)) than in the control group.

According to the results, a combination of 12 weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with green tea extract supplementation can decrease the expression of cardiac Bax and ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 than aerobic exercise and green tea supplementation alone.

Human flourishing is one of the important issues that have been currently the focus of positive psychology. Therefore, the study of flourishing and related variables can be helpful in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression. According, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of flourishing education on anxiety, stress, and depression in students of Babol University of Medical Sciences.

The present study was an applied study that employed a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest and a control group. The research population included all students of Babol University of Medical Sciences. A total of 38 students who scored a standard deviation lower than the mean in the flourishing questionnaire were selected by random cluster sampling and divided into two groups. Before, the intervention, the participants in the two groups completed the Anxiety, Stress and Depression Inventories. Then, the participants in the intervention group attending the flourish training program. Finally, both groups took the post-test. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

The results of multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that the two groups had significant differences in terms of anxiety (F=10.983, P=0.002), stress (F=9.174, P=0.005), and depression (F=4.252, P=0.047) after the intervention. This suggests that flourishing training reduced anxiety, stress and depression experienced by the participants in the intervention group.

In line with the findings of this study, it can be suggested that implementing flourishing training reduces students' stress, anxiety, and depression.

Metacognitive beliefs are associated with different forms of psychopathology in social anxiety disorder, necessitating the need to provide psychological interventions to people with social anxiety symptoms. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of group training of emotional schema therapy on the metacognitive beliefs in students with social phobia symptoms in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

The statistical population of this quasi-experimental research included all students with a social phobia at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in the academic year of 2019-2020. Among them, 30 students diagnosed with a social phobia disorder with a cut-off score of 40 according to the Social Phobia Inventory of Connor et al. (2000) and the DSM-5 criteria were selected by multistage cluster and purposive sampling methods; then, they were randomly assigned to one experimental and one control group (15 people per group). All in two groups completed the Wells & Cartwright-Hatton (2000) Metacognition Questionnaire. The experimental group completed eight sessions of emotional schema therapy, while the control group received no intervention; then, the questionnaire was again completed by both groups. The results were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance.

The mean and standard deviation of metacognitive beliefs score in the pre-test stage were not significantly different between the experimental group (67.20± 6.17) and the control group (67.06±6 6.07); however, the mean and standard deviation of this score in the post-test between the experimental group (45.60±4.35) and the control group (67.40±6 6.86) showed a significant difference (p=0.001).

Since the effectiveness of emotional schema therapy in reducing metacognitive beliefs in people with social anxiety symptoms is proved, it is recommended to be used in order to improve the metacognitive beliefs of students with a social phobia at the University of Medical Sciences.