ABSTRACT
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SRT that was performed in 4-6 year-old Persian-speaking children. The SRT is a nonword repetition task that assesses phonological working memory and was designed by Shriberg in 2008
Methods: The present research was a non-experimental study with a methodological design. The content validity of the task was evaluated by 15 speech language pathologists [SLP]. The Lawshe coefficient was acceptable, and therefore without changing the number and phonological structure of the nonwords, the SRT was performed by 140 normal children in two groups [4-5 and 5-6 years old] that were selected randomly from 10 kindergartens of Tehran. To assess the test-retest reliability, the SRT was performed at one-week intervals. Finally, to determine the differential validity of the SRT, the task was performed in 30 children with speech sound disorders [SSD] that had been selected from speech and language clinics of Tehran. SPSS software version 21 was used to determine the Pearson correlation coefficient, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and T-test
Results: The CVR coefficient of the SRT was between 0.57 and 1. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the total score was 0.83, and the Pearson correlation coefficient between successive runs was 0.87 [P <0.001]. There was a significant difference between the performances of two age groups [P=0.00]. Also, the SRT score in SSD children was significantly lower than in normal children [P=0.00]
Discussion: The SRT appears to be a psychometrically valid and reliable nonword repetition task for evaluating phonological working memory. The evidence of the differential validity of the SRT was approved in two ways: Differences between two age groups of normal children and differences between normal and SSD groups. The poor performance of children with SSD indicates that these patients have difficulty to store and retrieve phonological information in their working memory
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotional regulation training group therapy, based on Dialectical Behavioral Therapy [DBT] and Cognitive Therapy, on improving emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills and relapse prevention in addicts. In a quasiexperimental study, 39 patients with the diagnosis of opioid dependence based on DSM-IV criteria were randomly assigned in to two experimental and one control groups. The experimental groups took 10 ninety-minute sessions of group therapy. The subjects were evaluated using the Opiate Treatment Index [OPI], General Health Questionnaire-28 [GHQ-28], and Distress Tolerance and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scales prior to the start of treatment, and at the sixteenth session. The control group did not take group therapy and was merely treated with naltrexone. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and x[2] test. Scheffe test showed that both emotion regulation training and cognitive therapy were more effective than naltrexone increasing distress tolerance, emotion regulation enhancement, and decreasing the amount of drug abuse, health improvement, social functioning, somatic symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression enhancement[P<0.05]. In addition, emotion regulation training was more effective than cognitive therapy, increasing distress tolerance and emotional regulation enhancement [p<0.05]. It seems that DBT skill training increase the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy and is more effective than cognitive therapy