[ effectiveness of group metacognitive therapy on anxiety thought and improvement thought control strategy in patients with generalized anxiety disorder]

Generalized anxiety disorder [or GAD] is defined as an excessive, exaggerated anxiety and uncontrollable worry. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group metacognitive therapy [G-MCT] on Anxiety thought and improvement of thought control strategy in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder [GAD]. The study population consisted of all outpatients with GAD presenting to clinics in Tehran counselling center. A number of the patients conveniently were selected. Then using of Metacognition Questionnaire [MCQ-30], Thought Control Questionnaire [TCQ] and anxiety thought inventory [ANTI] and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders [SCID-I], 30 females were selected and randomly were assigned in two groups [15 in experimental group and 15 in control group]. From 15 patients of experimental group, 12 patients completed the treatment. Group metacognitive therapy was administered to the experimental group in ten, 120 minutes sessions during 2.5 months period. All subjects completed questionnaires before and after intervention and in follow-up period after 3 month. The results of ANCOVA test showed that Group metacognitive therapy have significant effect on negative metacognitive beliefs. The results of ANCOVA test also showed that Group metacognitive therapy significantly have decreased anxiety thought, and improved thought control strategy. These results remained in 3 months follow-up period. Group metacognitive therapy has some more benefits on metacognition beliefs and anxiety thought, and improved thought control strategy

Development, validation and reliability of child abuse self report scale [CASRS] in Iranian students

Diagnosing and assessing child abuse is a critical and difficult process in clinical psychology, because this phenomenon has several negative behavioral and psychological consequences on victims. The aim of this research is to create a scale for assessing child abuse and neglect. Through a multiclustral sampling, 3042 secondary school students [boys and girls] were selected to fill [1] a list of 54 items [Child Abuse and Self Report Scale, CASRS] which assess four categories of child abuse and neglect, after approving through content validity and [2] Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children [TSCC-A] in order to assign construct validity and comorbid psychopathology. Then, we did a clinical interview with a sample group who were diagnosed as abused children according to CASRS and TSCC-A. In addition, these scales were completed by a group of abused children as criterion group, for assigning criterion validity. In order to assign the reliability of CASRS and TSCC-A, after 3 weeks test-retest was done. Through a factor analysis, the best items were assigned. The results showed that CASRS and TSCC-A have excellent reliability and validity. Also, its stability was at an appropriate level. In addition, factor analysis showed that 38 items were the best questions for assessing child abuse. We believe that CASRS is an instrument which measures child abuse during the current life. It is brief [6 to 8 minutes for the core scales] and practical for epidemiological researches on child abuse, maltreatment and clinical screening. Methodological issues inherent in child self-report measures of abuse are discussed