Journal of counseling research

Effectiveness of Community Based-Intervention on Adjustment to Divorce in Divorced women

Faramarz Asanjarani

Purpose: This study investigates the effectiveness community based intervention on post-divorce adjustment of divorced women. Method: The statistical populations of this study were all divorced women in Arak city, Iran, who have been divorce for less than 5 years in 2017. 34 women were recruited using convenience sampling and were divided into control and experimental groups (N=17). Fisher’s divorce adjustment scale (FDAS) (2004) was administered as pre- and post – test for both groups. Experimental group participated in 10 sessions – 2 hours each – community based intervention while control group did not received any treatment. Results: Results show that community-based program was effective on divorce adjustment except for anger and social trust subscale (p> 0.05). Conclusion: This study shows that community based intervention is effective on divorce adjustment and therefore, can be used as a reliable intervention for divorced women.

Predicting Career Goal Discrepancy based on Career-Related Stress, Career Goal Feedback, and Field of Study in Students

Ahmad Sadeghi

Purpose: Career goal discrepancy is the perceived gap between the current state and future state that the person considers for his or her career future. The purpose of the study was to predict career goal discrepancy by career-related stress, career goal feedback, and field of study in students. Methods: The statistical population of the study includes all senior students in Isfahan during 2016-2017. From this population, 450 students (225 male & 225 female) were selected through random stratified sampling. Career Goal Discrepancy Scale (Creed & Hood, 2015), Career-Related Stress Inventory (Choi et al, 2011), and Career Goal Feedback Scale (Hu, Creed & Hood, 2016) were used for data collection in this correlational study. Data were analyzed using correlational and multiple-regression methods. Findings: Results showed a positive and meaningful correlation between career-related stress, negative feedback about progress, negative feedback about goal suitability, and field of study with career goal discrepancy. Also, career-related stress, career goal feedback, and field of study predicted career goal discrepancy with coefficient of determination of 0/63. This means that career goal discrepancy can be predicted by career-related stress, career goal feedback, and field of study. Results: It is necessary that school counselors, parents, and other people important to the students think about their current academic state and their ideal state into the future; then help them in order to evaluate the discrepancy between these two, and eventually teach them techniques and actions to reduce this gap.

Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Counseling Based on Islamic Teachings on Intimacy of Incompatible Couples

mansoureh hsjhosseini

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of emotion-focused counseling model based on Islamic teachings on the level of intimacy in incompatible couples. Methods: In the first stage, the research methodology was used in a qualitative way to extract the Islamic themes about emotion regulation and assess its content validity through a survey of experts in the field. For the second stage, the experimental research method was conducted in the framework of a pseudo-experimental design, utilizing a pre-test and post-test type, with a control group. The statistical population was selected from among 30 volunteers who had been selected from all married clients experiencing marital conflicts and referring to Yara counseling center in city of Saveh in the second half of the year 2017. They were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The toolds for gathering information included Thompson & Walker's Intimacy Scale (1983) and the Bagarozzi Marital Intimacy Needs (MINQ) Questionnaire. The program was run for 10 sessions of 90-minute group counseling for the experimental group, and the control group did not receive any training. Multivariate covariance analysis was used for data analysis. Findings: The research results indicated that the designed model had an appropriate validity (CVR =0.7125) and significantly increased the marital intimacy and its dimensions: emotional intimacy, psychological, intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic, and social-recreational, but it has no significant effect on the two dimensions, sexual and physical. Conclusions: It can be concluded that an emotion-focused counseling based on Islamic teachings model can help inconsistent couples gain more emotional control and more intimacy as an effective way.

The Effectiveness of Transactional Analysis with Short-term Strategic Family Therapy on Marital Conflicts in Couples Referring to Petroleum Engineering Organization’s Counseling Center

peghah farokhzad

Purpose: Current study was conducted to determine and compare the effectiveness of transactional analysis with short-term strategic family therapy on marital conflicts in couples who had referred to petroleum engineering organization’s counseling center. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental research with experimental and control groups, plus pre and post tests, and a follow-up after 2 months. The study population included couples who had referred to the mentioned counseling center, from which 45 couples were selected based on similar criteria. Moreover, 30 couples were chosen and randomly placed into two experimental and one control group. In this research 10 couples (20 individuals) received transactional analysis while 10 others received short-term strategic family therapy, and the third 10 participants were assigned to the control group. The two experimental groups received eight 90-minute therapy; but the control group was only administered the pre-test, but not received any therapy. All three groups received a post-test and the follow-up test after 2 months. For data analysis, repeated variance analysis and SPSS-22 software were used. Findings: Results showed that both transactional analysis and short-term strategic family therapy had influenced the level of conflict in participating couples in post-test and follow-up (p=0/005, F=5/92). Conclusions: Overall, it can be concluded that intervention with the two methods influences lowering marital conflicts.

The Effect of Peavy's Socio-Dynamic Counseling on Career Identity in Students

fatemeh Samiee

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of socio-dynamic counseling on the vocational identity of Isfahan university students. Methods: For this study, quasi-experimental method, with pretest-posttest and follow-up design, and a control group were used. The study population included all of the students at Isfahan university who were studying for their bachelor’s degree during the year 2015-2016. In this study, 30 subjects were randomly selected through voluntary sampling and were divided into two experimental and control groups (15 subjects in each group). The experimental group underwent socio dynamic counseling, but the control group did not receive any interventions. Data were collected using My Vocational Identity Scale (MVS) of Holland, Digger and Power (1980) and analyzed using SPSS-22 and analysis of variance through repeated measures. Findings: The results showed that socio-dynamic counseling had a significant effect on the vocational identity of students in post-test and follow-up stages (p0.05). The results also showed that socio-dynamic counseling had a significant effect on the vocational information and environmental and personal barriers (p0.05). Conclusions: The results suggested that socio-dynamic counseling could be used as an auxiliary process in career counseling and education.

Prediction of divorce and loneliness tendency based on attachment styles with respect to the role of mediation self-differentiation

sahar samadikashan

The aim of this study was to predict the feeling of loneliness and tendency to divorce based on attachment styles according to the role of mediation self-differentiation. This study is of descriptive method and the design is correlational based on path analysis. The study population included all divorce-seeking couples referring to branches 6, 7 and 8 and enforcement branch of family court in Shahre rey, Tehran in 2016. Using available sampling method, 200 subjects were selected. The data were collected using four questionnaires: The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996) Differentiation of Self Inventory (Skowron & Smith, 2003), Divorce Tendency Scale (Rusbult, 1986), and Adult Attachment Scale (Colins & Read, 1990). The results of the analysis were analyzed using structural equation analysis. Results: The results showed that there is a significant relationship between attachment styles with loneliness and tendency to divorce. There is also a significant relationship between self-differentiation with loneliness and tendency to divorce. Finally, attachment styles through self-differentiation can predict loneliness and tendency to divorce. Discussion and Conclusion: The research data with the proposed model has a perfect fit, so self-differentiation plays a significant mediator role in the relationship between attachment styles with loneliness and tendency to divorce.

The Relationship Between Job Security and Organizational Justice, with Job Burnout in Emdad Committee Staff

maryam tehranizadeh

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the relationship between job security and organizational justice with job burnout in Emdad committee staff. Method: This study was of descriptive-correlational type, with research population including all of the staff at Emdad committee in Tehran in the year 2015-2016, that corresponded to 14,000 people. Random cluster sampling was used, and the 220 participating sample filled the job security questionnaire (Nisi, 1381), job burnout questionnaire (Meslash & Jackson ,1981), and organizational justice questionnaire (Niehoff, B.R., Moorman, 1993). The statistical analysis used in this study included regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient, and SPSS-18 software was also utilized for data analysis. Findings: The results showed that there was a positive significant relationship between levels of job security and job burnout (p<0.05). However, some of the dimension of the organizational justice can predict some of the dimension of job burnout (p<0.05). Conclusions: With job security, job burnout can be reduced in Emdad committee staff, and thorough increasing organizational justice, the rate of progress and success among employees also increased.

Coping Strategies of Women with Post-Divorce Conditions

kimia vaezi

Purpose: In Iranian culture, divorce is considered to be an undesirable phenomenon that brings with it a lot of consequences and serious challenges and concerns for people, especially women. In order to deal with the phenomenon of divorce and the subsequent stigma, divorced women often have to consider coping strategies. The aim of the present study is to clarify the coping strategies of women after divorce. Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews, with 21 divorced women living in the city of Baneh, Iran. Purposive sampling was used and the data collection process continued until data saturation was achieved. Results: The analysis of qualitative data revealed two types of strategies which included adaptable and maladaptive strategies of coping with conditions after divorce. Discussion: The results of the present study revealed that the use of coping strategies among divorced women is different depending on the personal ability, family and social support, and social capital at their disposal. Identifying strategies used by women to deal with conditions of divorce would give a more comprehensive understanding of their needs. Accordingly, empowering divorced women, teaching them coping strategies, strengthening family support, and providing social opportunities are some measures that results in the enhancement of the coping strategies of divorced women in post-divorce situation.

Investigating the Relationship between the Quality of Parent-Child Interaction and Critical Thinking disposition with Mental Health Components among Adolescent Girls

maryam karimi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the quality of parent-child interaction and critical thinking disposition with mental health components among adolescent girls.For this purpose, 319 girls from second grade of high school students in Yazd city were selected randomly in a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The instruments used in the research included the Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PCRS), the Ricketts Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28).For data analysis , Pearson correlation and regression analysis were used. The results of this study showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the quality of parent-child interaction with mental health and critical thinking patterns of adolescent girls. There is also a positive and significant relationship between the tendency to critical thinking and mental health. The results of regression analysis showed that quality of communication with father significantly predicted mental health and tendency to critical thinking in female adolescents.