Factor structure, validity and reliability of the revised version of skin picking scale

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure, validity and reliability of the Skin Picking Scale-Revised Version. In this descriptive and validation study, participants were 550 [250 male and 300 female] of the University of Isfahan were selected randomly from 15000 students. In order to examine the factor structure of the SPS-R we conducted both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and Cronbach's alpha. Convergent validity of SPS-R with YBOCS-BDD, OCI-R and DASS 21-item were r=0.45, r=0.51 and r=0.70 [p<0.001]. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed two factors, one assessing impairment and the other symptom severity [4 items each]. These factors could determine 58.1% of the variance. The Cronbach's alpha for the two factors were above 0.88. Also, results were shown to possess good psychometric properties, as well as discriminant validity and classification accuracy, in both clinical and community populations. It can be concluded that this instrument is a useful measure for assess skin-picking disorder symptoms in clinical assessment

Efficacy of training optimism on general health

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of optimism with mental health and the affectivity of optimism training on mental health and its components on Yazd University students. Fifty new students of the 2008-2009 academic years were randomly selected. The General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-28] and the optimism scale were completed by them. Thirty persons of these students, who had the highest psychological problems based on the general health questionnaire, were divided into two case and control groups through random assignment. The case group was trained for one month, in two 90-minute sessions per week. Pre-tests and follow-up tests were performed in both groups. The results of Pearson correlation coefficients showed that optimism had a negative and significant relationship with mental health, anxiety, social function, and depression scores [p< 0.0001]. However, no significant relationship was seen with somatic symptoms [p >0.005]. Multivariate analysis of covariance showed that optimism training had significant impact on mental health and its components in the case group, compared with the control group [p< 0.0001]. In general, the findings of this research suggest the relationship between optimism and mental health and the effectiveness of optimism training on mental health. This method can be used to treat and prevent mental health problems.

efficacy of cognitive-behavior group therapy on health-related quality of life, health anxiety and depression in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

The purpose of this study, was to determine the efficacy of cognitive - behavioral group therapy in health - related quality of life, in irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] patients. 32 IBS patients who received this diagnosis, according to the Rome II criteria, were selected and assigned randomly to either the experimental or the control group with 16 IBS patients in each group. The experimental group received 8 weekly CBGT sessions in the department of gastroentology in a general Hospital in the central city. The Quality of Life Inventory [QOL] and Beck Depression Inventory [BDI] were used as the pretest, post-test and follow-up. The follow-up tests were conducted two months after the last intervention session. Results of Multivariate Analysis of Covariance [MANCOVA] showed that the mean scores of health - related quality of life and depression, in the experimental group, was significantly lower than the control group in post-test[P=0.004, P=0.023],but there wasn't significant difference in follow-up. Results also showed that the scores of health anxiety in experimental group was significantly lower than the control group in post-test [P=0.007] and follow - up [P=0.02]. CBGT could be an effective and selective psychotherapy to improve HRQOL and degree depression and health anxiety of IBS patients, but in this therapy, in addition to automatic thoughts, we should also consider to core beliefs and underlying assumptions to enhancement the efficacy of intervention

[Comparison of Islamic oriented and classical cognitive behavioral therapy on mental health of martyrs' and veterans' wives]

The present study was planned to assess the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy emphasized on religious believes to relieve psychological problems of wives of martyrs and veterans. In a double-blind clinical trial in Zahedan city, south-eastern part of Iran during 2008-9, 60 individuals from wives of martyrs and veterans who had obtained abnormal General Health Questionnaire-28 [GHQ-28] scores and their anxiety and depression had been proved through a clinical interview, were selected by accessible sampling method and randomly divided to three equal groups. The first, the second and the third groups received 8 sessions of classical cognitive-behavioral therapy, 8 sessions of Islamic oriented cognitive-behavioral therapy and no intervention respectively. The study instruments included GHQ-28 and Dysfunction Attitude Scale, which were executed for each subject at the baseline and after the interventions. The scores were analyzed using ANCOVA statistical method. There were significant differences of scores between three groups [P<0.01]. Although there were significant differences of improvement scores of two cases groups in comparison with control group [both with P<0.01], but there was no significant difference between scores of two cases groups [P>0.05]. The findings exhibited that cognitive-behavioral therapy emphasized on islamic approach bears the same effects of classical behavioral therapy