Journal of

Informal caregivers play an important role in meeting the communication, nutrition and health needs of the elderly. Understanding the experiences and perspectives of informal caregivers in caring for the elderly is important. This study aims to identify and organize the experiences of informal caregivers. The purpose of this research is to analyze the physical, cognitive and psychological problems of an elderly person with a stroke with a qualitative approach. The research method in this study is qualitative and based on unstructured interviews. The sampling method is purposeful. Interviews were conducted with the caregivers of an elderly person who had a stroke. The interview was conducted in an elderly person’s home located in Ilam city. Data analysis was done by using NVIVO software. Therefore, the interview were reviewed and initially coded, and at this stage, 570 initial codes were extracted. The initial codes were reviewed and revised several times and finally the number of five main classes with the titles of cognitive, physical, economic, care, and environmental conditions were achieved with 13 sub stage. In this study, it was found that the care provided was based on rotin actions and according to psychological, physical, health, nutrition and medicinal aspects.
 

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of positive psychology intervention on self-care and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in women with type 2 diabetes. This quasi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest design with a control group. A total of 30 women with type 2 diabetes who visited the endocrinology department of Shahid Dr. Labbafi Nejad Hospital between June and July 2024 were randomly selected. Participants were then randomly assigned to experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups using Microsoft Excel. The experimental group received positive psychology intervention for eight weekly sessions (90 minutes each), while the control group received routine hospital care. Data were collected using the Diabetes Self-Care Scale and HbA1c measurements at three time points: baseline, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA). The results indicated a significant increase in self-care scores in the intervention group compared to the control group. Additionally, the experimental group showed a significant reduction in HbA1c levels compared to the control group. These findings suggest that positive psychology intervention can be an effective approach to improving self-care behaviors and reducing HbA1c levels in women with type 2 diabetes.

The present study aims to explore the impact of mentalization on the quality of parenting in mothers who experienced childhood emotional trauma. This qualitative, phenomenological research used semi-structured interviews for data collection, which were then analyzed using Collaizi's seven-step phenomenological method. The participants, selected through purposive sampling, consisted of 9 mothers of children aged 3-6 years who had experienced emotional trauma during childhood. The analysis yielded five main themes: the mother's mentalization capacity, her inner psychological state, the mother-child relationship, trauma transmission, and her parenting practices. The findings suggest that mothers with strong mentalization abilities tend to experience more positive mental states, establish secure relationships with their children, avoid repeating traumatic behaviors from their own parents, and demonstrate effective parenting. In contrast,mothers with deficits in mentalization showed more negative mental states, struggled to create security with their children, repeated traumatic behaviors, and exhibited poorer parenting practices.
 

 

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on anxiety sensitivity and alexithymia in women with skin picking and hair pulling disorders in Tehran. This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest control group design. A total of 30 female students from the Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, who met the research criteria for skin picking and hair pulling disorders, were selected using purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group received eight sessions of ACT, while the control group received no intervention. Data were collected using demographic information, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale at baseline, post-intervention, and a three-month follow-up. The results indicated no significant difference between the two groups in the pretest stage, confirming group homogeneity. However, posttest and follow-up results showed significant reductions in anxiety sensitivity and alexithymia scores in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that ACT is effective in reducing emotional and cognitive symptoms associated with skin picking and hair pulling disorders and may be considered a beneficial therapeutic approach for women affected by these conditions.

 

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of schema therapy and compassion-focused therapy on marital conflicts and differentiation of self among women affected by marital infidelity. This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest design with two treatment groups, in which 40 affected women were randomly assigned to schema therapy and compassion-focused therapy groups. Data were collected using validated questionnaires on marital conflicts and differentiation of self, and analyzed through multivariate analysis of covariance. The results indicated that both therapeutic approaches significantly reduced marital conflicts and enhanced differentiation of self, with significant differences observed between the two groups. Schema therapy demonstrated greater effectiveness in improving specific dimensions of marital conflicts, whereas compassion-focused therapy showed stronger effects on dimensions of differentiation of self. These findings highlight the critical role of specialized psychotherapeutic interventions in restoring psychological well-being and improving the quality of marital relationships among women affected by infidelity. They also emphasize the importance of tailoring therapeutic approaches to the individual needs and characteristics of clients. Furthermore, the results provide a scientific basis for the integrative and targeted use of these two therapeutic approaches in counseling and psychotherapy centers.

 One of the overlooked aspects of psychopathology is its cultural foundations. Just as genes can carry defective biological information and transmit it across generations, memes can also transfer defective cultural information into minds, potentially leading to psychological distress. Therefore, the present study aims to conceptualize and develop the technique of Meme Maps to trace the developmental history of pathological psychological memes in Major Depressive Disorder. This study follows a qualitative case-study approach. The research population consisted of individuals aged 18 to 25 diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in Kermanshah, in 2024. Through purposive sampling, a single participant was selected for detailed analysis. Memetic assessment revealed two primary memeplexes—Incapacity-Helplessness and Shame-Deficiency that contributed to the patient’s symptoms. Using the Meme Maps technique, the Gestational and Developmental Meme Events of these memeplexes were identified. The patient’s awareness of these Gestational Meme Events and Developmental Meme Events led to insight into the emotions corresponding to pathological memes, enabling them to destabilize the foundations of their maladaptive memeplexes. This insight further allowed the individual to counteract the extended phenotypic effects of these memeplexes. the study demonstrated the effectiveness of Meme Maps in identifying the evolutionary trajectory of pathological psychological memes in Major Depressive Disorder

The present research was conducted with the aim of predicting alexithymia in adolescents based on cognitive flexibility and difficulties in emotion regulation of their mothers. This research was a descriptive-analytical study and conducted in the form of a correlational design. The statistical population included adolescents aged 13 to 18 years from Arak schools along with their mothers, 459 of them were selected by random cluster sampling. The students responded to twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and their mothers to Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, and the collected data were analyzed using stepwise regression. The findings showed that limited access to emotion regulation strategies (beta coefficient= 0.240) and lack of emotional clarity (beta coefficient=0.194) of mothers had a significant role in predicting the alexithymia in adolescent and explained about 14% of its variance. Other subscales of difficulties in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility of mothers did not play a role in explaining it. As a result, difficulties in emotion regulation in mothers can play an important role in adolescent emotional alexithymia. Accordingly, strengthening mothers' emotion regulation skills is recommended to specialists as an important priority for improving the emotional health of their children.