Robot-based psychological intervention program for the prevention of child sexual abuse: An overview.

Sexual abuse of children is an important issue with severe consequences, so self-care education programs increase children's awareness, knowledge, and skills against sexual abuse. It has been considered as one of the priorities of health and treatment issues in different countries of the world. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the program of psychological interventions with a robot on the sexual care of children. The results showed that psychological interventions with robots are effective on children's sexual care. The prevention program is to prevent sexual victimization of children by helping them learn skills to protect themselves and teach them to recognize good and bad contact and seek a trusted adult for help and can be considered as a treatment method by counselors and psychologists. (Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2023; 25(1): 18-25).

A Comparative Study of Depression in Elderly Institutional Residents and Elderly Home Residents

When people experience aging, their need for care and institutionalization rises. Sending Parents to elderly or nursing homes has been prevalent in western countries while not a standard practice in Eastern communities. The present study based on a cross-sectional study design aspired to compare the depression in elderly institutional residents and elderly home residents. A purposive sample of 150 elderly were assessed for depression by using the Beck Depression Inventory-II. The results indicated that the level of depression was significantly higher in institutionalized elderly compared to the elderly living in their homes with families. Further, elderly females reported higher depression in comparison to elderly male respondents. Moreover, findings indicate that the institutionalized elderly had moderate to severe levels of depression and that the elderly home residents had no to a mild mood disturbance. The elderly may feel more psychological health living with families. The study concludes that elderly individuals living in institutional homes were much more suffering from depression as compared to elderly individuals living at home with families. The concerned authorities should devise strategies to enhance the mental health and quality of life of the elderly which may contribute to reduce the prevalence of depression (AU)

Assessing the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy on alleviation of anxiety in pre-school children: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective & background: Human-animal interactions are considered as being valuable and beneficial for the psychological health. Recently Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) has been included for client-therapist interaction. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy in alleviation of anxiety in pre-school children. Method: The study was carried out as a randomized controlled trail with pre-test and post-test design and control group. The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration id of ChiCTR2000034145. The study consisted of 33 anxious 5-7years old children (participated in a welfare anxiety screening plan held by Counseling Center, Tehran-Iran) between 2018 and 2019. The participants took part in the study voluntarily. The subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (10 in each group). The experimental group was exposed to 8 sessions of animal therapy. The research instrument used in the present study was Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Parent Form) and the data were analyzed on SPSS 21 software. Results: The results showed that animal therapy had a significant effect on general anxiety after adjusting for post-test assessments (f = 32.49 and p = 0.001) with the effect equal to 0.70. In addition, the effect of animal therapy on anxiety of separation (f = 5.63, p = 0.03), generalized anxiety disorder (f = 8.56, p = 0.01), social phobia (f = 14.58, p = 0.002) and specific anxiety (f = 11.63, p = 0.005) was significant with effects equal to 0.30, 0.40, 0.53, and 0.47, respectively. The results also showed that the effect of animal therapy on obsession was not significant (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, it can be concluded that Animal therapy is effective in alleviating anxiety in children. It supports for the inclusion of AAT in therapeutic practice with children having anxiety.

A review of the theory of motivational psychotherapy.

Reviewing the history of theories associated with psychotherapy establishes that motivational psychotherapy (MPT) has been centered on environmental mind, lies, selfishness, and rich mind, which are often rooted in previous theories but portrayed in an effectively different manner. By creating new concepts in the field of psychotherapy, MPT provides a useful and practical way to treat psychological problems. The analytical method has been also exploited to reflect on the theory of MPT. The results of this study revealed that MPT, recruiting the concept of rich mind, opens a new path for clients to effortlessly remove many problems in order to reach perfection and nurture their soul.

Spiritual Health in Iranian University Students: a Systematic Review and meta-analysis.

Background and Aim: Spiritual health (SH), as the guiding force that maintains equilibrium in three dimensions of health - physical, mental, and social - can significantly contribute to the quality of life in humans. Therefore, the present study was to reflect on the levels of SH among Iranian university students. Materials and Methods: This study was fulfilled, employing a systematic review and meta-analysis, from November to December 2020. All the relevant articles, focusing on SH assessment in Iranian university students, published in seven valid databases between 2012 and 2020 were accordingly collected and evaluated. Finally, 20 articles were selected and analyzed using the Stata software. Results: A total of 20 studies conducted in Iran based on a sample size of 4805 individuals was found during the time period of 2012 and 2021. Spiritual Health in Iranian University Students was estimated to be 80.50 (95% CI, 73.56% - 87.44%). Conclusion: Considering the synthesis of the reviewed articles, SH was reported to be at high levels in nearly all Iranian university students, as expected in the Iranian-Islamic society. (Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2022; 24(2): 78-84).

Review of psychological trauma: theory, practice, policy and research.

We present a concise state-of-the-art review of psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for mental health practitioners. This article is also set to present the nature of traumatic incidents, their common presentation, their disruptions to normal psychological and biological functioning, and the negative health care impact of untreated incidents. Originally, the trauma response to extreme life events and PTSD was conceptualized as normal responses to overwhelming situations. However, in the last few years, there has been an increase in the acceptance of the idea that exposure to a traumatic situation/stimulus may not be sufficient to explain the development of PTSD. In addition, the individual vulnerability factors play a significant role in understanding this condition. In principle, this paper also focuses on the associative relationship between social support and psychological trauma because of methodological review. Hence, due to the paucity of such types of studies, this review starts with the findings and different aspects considered on the nature of social support, and then the general outcomes of this association. Furthermore, the relationship between support and human physiology is also presented. To further strengthen the objectives in review, the methodological issues and limitations are discussed in each section. Finally, this review article concludes the evaluation of the research specific to psychological trauma and social support in the field of combat, sexual abuse, and battering.

Psychoeducational Group Therapy for sexual function and marital satisfaction in Iranian couples with sexual dysfunction disorder.

BACKGROUND: Having sexual relations plays a very important role in the success and scope of procreation. Understanding sexual function can lead to sexual satisfaction and ultimately to marital satisfaction and reconciliation of spouses. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a psychoeducational programme on sexual function and marital satisfaction of Iranian couples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a semi-experimental pre-test and post-test study with control group. The statistical population included all couples diagnosed with sexual dysfunction referred to Bahar Consulting Center in Mashhad in 2019. A total of 40 individuals were randomly assigned to the two treatment conditions which were experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) forming two groups. The individuals assigned to experimental condition experienced a 10 session psychoeducational program and the control condition comprised of Treatment As Usual (TAU) which was based on medical and general counseling regime. The data collection tool was marital satisfaction and sexual function questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 software. RESULTS: there is a significant difference between the amount of sexual function and marital satisfaction before and after the test in experimental group (p < 0.01). The results of this study showed that Psychoeducational Group Therapy improved the sexual performance and improved marital satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Psychoeducational Group Therapy helps to increase marital satisfaction and sexual functioning of married couples. Therefore, this intervention is recommended as an effective program for improving marital satisfaction and sexual performance of couples. It can help to strengthen the foundation of the family.

A systematic review of prevalence of Depression in Iranian patients.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common mental health disorder which has become a global public health issue. It constitutes around 35 to 45% of mental health problems in Iran and covers 8% to 20% of population of Iran. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression among the Iranian patients through systematic review and meta-analysis. METHOD: For the present study information were searched in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and in Iranian databases including Iran Medex, SID, MedLib, Scientific Information Database, MagIran, using the following keywords: "depression", "prevalence" and Iran. The data from these databases were analyzed through meta-analysis (random effects model). Heterogeneity among the results of the studies was examined by I2 index. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were used in this study, and statistical analyses were performed using STATA Ver.16. RESULTS: A total of 46 studies conducted in Iran based on a sample size of 2960 individuals was found during the time period of 2010 and 2018. Prevalence of depression among Iranian patients was estimated to be 34.26 (95% CI, 24.12% - 44.10%). Thus, the findings indicated that there exists a moderate prevalence of depression which is continuously growing. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of depression in Iran is moderate and growing which is alarming as it may turn out to be a massive increase in incidence rate of depression in coming years. This indicates a greater risk for Iranian population and calls for effective measures to be taken to control the mental health problems among Iranian patients.

Artificial Intelligence applications and psychology: an overview.

Psychotherapy endows a sense of control in patients gripped with emotional conflicts which allow them to handle their reflexes and regain composure through conscious and behavioral alterations. These transformational changes can be brought about by improving their listening skills, observational capacities, creating awareness, making them more attentive and intervening. Conventional psychotherapy calls for one-to-one sessions during treatment. Considering the increased access to information technology in our normal living, the thought of human interaction being replaced by IT tools came to existence. Specialized tools and techniques are employed through the course of therapy which not only alters but also accentuates their cognitive and effective understanding. The idea of amalgamating these two broad ambits - the complexities of psychology and dynamism of artificial intelligence has gained momentum in recent times. The previous reluctance of a few psychologists regarding inculcating expert systems into routine practice due to maybe employment-related insecurities or being swapped by a computer led to underutilization of the latent competence of using IT. Primarily, human behavior itself cannot be copied in totality by technology, and AI has a great deal to cover in this regards, but researchers are doing their best to deliver on these premises. Apart from this patient resistance to this encroachment of technology should also be looked at critically for gaining mass acceptance. This review focuses on how machine intelligence through computer-implemented psychotherapeutic tools can enhance self-awareness.

Barriers of medication adherence in patients with type-2 diabetes: a pilot qualitative study.

Background: Patients with type-2 diabetes have poor adherence to the therapeutic regime. It can result in various complications in body systems associated with undesirable metabolic control. Purpose: The present study aimed to explore the inhibitors of medication adherence in patients with type-2 diabetes. Patients and methods: This was a qualitative study using a conventional content analysis method. Participants were 12 patients with type-2 diabetes referred to the diabetes unit in Saghez, Kurdistan Province in 2015. The purposive sampling method was used with a maximum variation in sampling, and data collection was continued until data saturation was achieved. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. Interviews were recorded and immediately transcribed verbatim. Results: Data analysis led to the development of four main categories including disbelief in medical explanatory/prescriptive knowledge, lived experiences of the disease, challenges of everyday life, and interactive/economic challenges. The main inhibitors were the patient's understanding of his/her own physical status and strategies used for maintaining the internal balance. Healthcare providers need to take patients' perceptions into account when they are prescribing medicinal diets. Another inhibitor was the incidents of everyday life, including economic and social challenges, and interactions to receive education and skills for living with the disease. Conclusion: Beliefs of the medical team and patients should be brought closer to each other, and patients' trust in the medical team should be increased. Nurses should consider the unique experience of every patient when giving healthcare recommendations, and try to limit the existing challenges as much as possible.

Telecardiology application in jordan: its impact on diagnosis and disease management, patients' quality of life, and time- and cost-savings.

Objectives. To assess the impact of live interactive telecardiology on diagnosis and disease management, patients' quality of life, and time- and cost-savings. Methods. All consecutive patients who attended or were referred to the teleclinics for suspected cardiac problems in two hospitals in remote areas of Jordan during the study period were included in the study. Patients were interviewed for relevant information and their quality of life was assessed during the first visit and 8 weeks after the last visit. Results. A total of 76 patients were included in this study. Final diagnosis and treatment plan were established as part of the telecardiology consultations in 71.1% and 77.3% of patients, respectively. Patients' travel was avoided for 38 (50.0%) who were managed locally. The majority of patients perceived that the visit to the telecardiology clinic results in less travel time (96.1%), less waiting time (98.1%), and lower cost (100.0%). Telecardiology consultations resulted in an improvement in the quality of life after two months of the first visit. Conclusions. Telecardiology care in remote areas of Jordan would improve the access to health care, help to reach proper diagnosis and establish the treatment plan, and improve the quality of life.