Journal of Research and Health
Volume:12 Issue: 3, May-Jun 2022

This study explores the role of collective affirmation in attracting mass cooperation to motivate people to observe preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Using a qualitative research design, a heterogeneous sample (n=32) comprising postgraduate (n=10) and doctorates (n=22) was chosen and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The interview contents were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed via the thematic analysis method.

Five themes were generated in this study: perceived psychological distress, pandemic as a serious challenge to the national interest and human existence, the Janata curfew as a positive faith of the government in the abilities of Indians, lockdown as a strong faith of the government in the unshakable support of the Indians and strong affinity and pride of the Indians in their cultural heritage. The novelty, suddenness, and incurability of COVID-19 caused a set of perceived psychological distress and danger to individual and collective life. The Janata (public) curfew was perceived as a curfew of the people, by the people, and for the people. The lockdown denoted a strong faith of the Indian government in the positive virtues of the Indian people and vice versa. The mass support and adherence to the suggested preventive government measures were facilitated by collective affirmation of the well-known positive Indian cultural values (e.g. humanism, interdependence, collective pride, compassion, universal brotherhood, and so on) to the world. 

Collective affirmation inherent in the Indian cultural values catalyzed mass behavior change in the form of adherence to the essential restrictions and recommendations. Collective affirmation may have occurred because of the perceived faith of the government in the virtues of the Indians and their perceived administrative capability of the government. A culture-specific collective affirmation seems to emerge which initiated mass behavior changes leading to a successful lockdown.

Currently, aging is an important issue as the population of the elderly is gradually increasing worldwide. Accordingly, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between the tendency toward the stability of the relationship and loneliness in the elderly in Gonabad Town, Iran in 2017.

This is a cross-sectional correlational study. The statistical population includes all the elderly population over the age of 60 living in Gonabad Town, Iran. Using the Cochran formula, 350 people were selected as the sample by cluster sampling and matching method. Data collection tools were the relationship quality questionnaire by Pierce (1991) feeling of loneliness questionnaire by Russell (1980). The data were analyzed via the SPSS software, version 23, and the path analysis technique.

The results of the path analysis showed that the tendency toward job stability and the tendency toward stabilizing the relationship with family members have both direct and indirect effects; however, the amount of direct, indirect, and total effects on the tendency toward stabilizing the relationship is greater than the tendency toward job stability. The total effect of the desire for job stability on the feeling of loneliness and the desire for job stability equals -1.17 and -0.78, respectively. That is, the direct, indirect, and the total effect of the desire for stabilizing the relationship are greater than the desire for job stability.

Job stability may reduce loneliness in the elderly, but it is the stability of the relationship with the family that affects the quality of the relationships and thereby reduces loneliness in the elderly. To strengthen these relationships, it is possible to reduce loneliness in the elderly by increasing the awareness of families about the need for stronger emotional bonds with the elderly to create self-worth in them.

Mothers often bear a heavy psychological burden in society because of their disabled children. As mothers often spend more time taking care of these children, they are exposed to different types of stress and mental disorders. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between lifestyle and attachment to God with depression with the mediating role of Quality of Life (QoL) in mothers of children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) in Tehran, Iran.

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted using path analysis. The statistical population comprised all the mothers of children with IDs in Tehran, Iran in 2020. Among the study population, a total of 213 mothers were selected as the sample via convenience sampling. The research instruments included the Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II), the attachment to God questionnaire, the lifestyle assessment inventory (LSI), and the World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire-short form (WHOQoL-BREF). The proposed model was evaluated via structural equation modeling (SEM), and the indirect relationships were tested via bootstrapping.

The results showed a direct and significant relationship between attachment to God and QoL (β=0.40, P=0.001), and between lifestyle and QoL (β=0.31, P=0.001). There was a negative relationship between attachment to God and depression (β=-0.40, P=0.001), in addition to QoL and depression (β=-0.37, P=0.001). The results of the indirect path analysis showed the mediating role of QoL in the relationship between attachment to God and lifestyle with depression (P=0.001).

The results confirmed the proposed model’s goodness of fit; therefore, this model can expand our understanding of the factors affecting depression in mothers of children with IDs to design preventive programs to mitigate their stress and depression.

Dysfunctional families suffer from poor communication, negative relationships, and countless conflicts. Achieving goals is challenging in such families and requires significant energy. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and integrated behavioral couples therapy (IBCT) in improving intimacy and family functioning in divorce-seeking couples in Bushehr City, Iran in 2020.

This was a quasi-experimental study based on a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The study population consisted of all married couples applying for a divorce in Bushehr City, Iran. A total of 45 couples were selected as the sample through convenience sampling and were randomly and equally assigned to three groups. The research instruments included, Walker and Thompson intimacy scale, and the McMaster family assessment device. The data were statistically analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance via SPSS software. The Bonferroni post hoc test was used to determine the mean difference between the groups.

The results showed a significant difference between ACT and IBCT groups with the control group in the posttest scores for intimacy and family functioning (P<0.001). Moreover, there was no significant difference between ACT and IBCT in improving intimacy and family functioning in divorce-seeking couples.

Based on the results of the present study, both ACT and IBCT can be used for improving intimacy and family functioning between divorce-seeking couples.

Marital maladjustment can have negative consequences for couples’ health and relationships. The present study aims to determine the effect of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) on sexual assertiveness, marital forgiveness, and marital harmony in maladjusted couples.

This was an experimental study based on a pretest-posttest design with control and experimental groups. The statistical population consisted of all maladjusted couples visiting the counseling centers of Behbahan City, Iran in 2020. A total of 30 couples were selected from this population as the sample through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (15 couples in each group). The participants in the experimental group received eight 120-minute sessions of Greenberg’s EFT. The research instruments included the sexual assertiveness questionnaire, trait forgiveness scale, and marital harmony scale. The data were statistically analyzed using the one-way and multivariate analyses of variance via the SPSS software, version 25.

The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and the control group in terms of sexual assertiveness, marital forgiveness, and marital harmony (P<0.001). EFT significantly increased the sexual assertiveness, marital forgiveness, and marital harmony of couples in the experimental group.

The findings demonstrated the positive effects of EFT on sexual assertiveness, marital forgiveness, and marital harmony of maladjusted couples. Therefore, the EFT can be recommended as an effective intervention to improve sexual assertiveness, marital forgiveness, and marital harmony in couples with marital conflict.

Students’ minds fail to quickly analyze the mass of information to which they are exposed when experiencing academic stress, resulting in irreparable physical and mental damage. The present study aims to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between family emotional climate and time management with academic stress in university students.

This is a correlational-descriptive study conducted with path analysis. The statistical population consisted of all male and female students of Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz in the academic year of 2019-2020, of whom 222 students were selected as the sample via the convenience sampling method. The research instruments included the educational stress scale, the family emotional climate questionnaire, the time management scale, and the self-efficacy scale. The proposed model was evaluated by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

The results revealed a significant relationship between family emotional climate and academic stress (β=-0.57, P=0.001), family emotional climate and self-efficacy beliefs (β=0.27, P=0.001), time management and self-efficacy beliefs (β=0.23, P=0.001), and self-efficacy beliefs and academic stress (β=-0.15, P=0.007). However, no significant relationship was found between time management and academic stress. The results also indicated that self-efficacy beliefs could significantly mediate the indirect relationship between family emotional climate and academic stress (P=0.016), and also the relationship between time management and academic stress (P=0.017).

Study findings confirmed the proposed model’s goodness of fit; therefore, the model can be employed to effectively identify the factors causing academic stress in university students.

High school students may experience stress, worry, anxiety, educational problems, and psychological damage because of high workload, expansive cognitive assignments, and being in a competitive space regarding their assignments and the university entrance exam. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) on pathological worry and difficulty in emotion regulation in students with depression symptoms in Dehloran City, Iran. 

This was a quasi-experimental study based on a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population comprised all 12-grade female students studying for the university entrance exam in the academic year of 2020-2021 in Dehloran City, Iran. A total of 45 students were selected through convenience sampling and randomly divided into MBSR, DBT, and control groups. The research instruments included the difficulties in emotion regulation scale, Penn State worry questionnaire, and Beck depression inventory-II. The data were analyzed via descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of covariance.

The Mean±SD of the pathological worry for MBSR, DBT, and control groups in the posttest phase were 33.67±3.69, 31.00±3.87, and 37.78±3.96, respectively. Moreover, the Mean±SD of the difficulty in emotion regulation in the posttest phase for MBSR, DBT, and control groups were 62.00±6.18, 61.60±6.95, and 72.20±6.84, respectively. The results indicated that the differences between MBSR and DBT groups with the control group were significant in terms of the scores for pathological worry and difficulty in emotion regulation of the university entrance exam applicants with depression symptoms in the posttest stage (P<0.001).

MBSR and DBT can be recommended to school counselors as effective interventions to improve emotion regulation and pathological worry in university entrance exam applicants with depression symptoms.

Students’ academic motivation is one of the essential factors for academic achievement and the growth of societies, which emphasizes the importance of examining academic motivation correlations. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the structural equation model for explaining students’ academic motivation based on emotion regulation with the mediating role of academic self-efficacy.

This quantitative-correlational research was conducted using structural equations. The research population included all high school students (3057 people) in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades in Gonabad Town, Iran in the academic year of 2019-2020. In this population, 1646 were girls and 1411 were boys. A total of 250 people were considered a sample group by the multistage cluster random sampling method based on the principles of structural equations modeling. After obtaining the informed consent letters, all participants completed the situational motivation scale (SIMS) developed by Sinclair & McInroy (1992), the Morgan-Jinks student efficacy scale (MJSES), the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaires of Garnowski et al. (2002), revised adult attachment scale (1990) developed by Collins and Reed, and the classroom environments questionnaire (Fraser, 1995). Next, the data were collected and analyzed through Pearson correlation methods and structural equations using the SPSS software, version 19, and AMOS software, version 20.

Academic self-efficacy (0.20) and emotion regulation (0.37) directly and significantly affected academic motivation. In addition, emotion regulation (0.53) had a direct and significant effect on academic self-efficacy. There was an indirect relationship between emotional regulation (0.24) and mediated academic self-efficacy on academic motivation (P<0.01).

The emotional regulation model is a favorable fit for students’ academic motivation with the mediating role of academic self-efficacy. Therefore, the awareness of teachers, parents, principals and other educational experts can improve students’ academic motivation.