Journal of Counseling Research

---

Aim: the aim of this research was to investigate the effect of Hope Therapy on mental health and meaning in life of depressed teenage girls. Methods: The research method was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest, and control group. The statistical population included all high school girls in Isfahan in 2016 and the statistical sample of the study included 24 girls who were selected by cluster sampling method and whose score on Beck-2 depression questionnaire was between 16 to 46, and who were diagnosed with depression through clinical interviews. These individuals were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Afterwards, Hope Therapy was performed in a group format in 8 steps for the subjects in the experimental group, while the  control group did not receive any interventions. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) were used in the pretest and posttest stages. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. Findings: The findings showed that group hope-therapy had a significant effect on increasing mental health and meaning in life of depressed girls in the experimental group. Conclusion: It can be concluded that hope therapy base on group can be an effective intervention in promoting mental health and meaning of life of depressed adolescent girls.

---

Aim: Successful marriage is the foundation of establishing a stable family. This study was carried out to provide a successful marriage paradigm. Methods: The study was conducted through a qualitative methodology applying grounded theory. The participants of the study were all couples who were living in city of Ahvaz during 2019. To select the participants in this study, a purposeful sampling was administered and as the study advanced, sampling of the desired cases continued until theoretical saturation was reached. At the end, 22 individuals (11 couples) were interviewed using open-ended or structureless questions.  Findings: In grounded theory, data analysis consists of coding the data. Using open coding resulted in 83 initial codes, while using axial coding produced 23 main categories. The  concept of successful marriage was elicited as a central, transparent and explicit category. Conclusion: We can draw a conclusion that a successful marriage is hinged on a thorough and comprehensive transparency of the issues involved in a marital relationship. That is to say either couple expresses openly what they have experienced, not leaving anything vague and ambiguous so that they don’t get the urge to decode and discover it. The paradigm obtained from this study can be used in teaching couples in premarital counseling sessions. It can also be used to treat upset couples and those couples who want to enrich their relationship.

---

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of self-differentiation training on improving family process and content in demanding couples with contested divorce. Methods: A quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and two-months follow-up with control group was used. The statistical population included couples who mutually consented for divorce, and had referred to the counselling clinic of Behravan in Qazvin in 2018. Ten couples (20 participants) were selected through purposeful sampling and assigned in experimental and control groups. Research tools included Samani’s (2008) family process and content questionnaire. Self-differentiation was administered for the experimental group in 10 weekly 90-minute sessions. The changes of family process and content was measured in posttest and follow-up and data were analyzed by repeated measurement. Results: Results indicated that self-differentiation significantly have promoted family process (P<0.01, F=21.14) and family content (P<0.01, F= 23.32). This effect was observed in follow-up, and four couples gave up the divorce requests (P>0.01, t= 0.01). Conclusion: self-differentiation training, thorough empowering couples, helps in moderating between reason and emotions; while differentiaton of self from original family, affects the functions of family process and content. Therefore, it can be used as an efficient psycho-educational package for improving the functions of family process and content in divorce demanding couples, and may helpprevent divorce

---

Aim: The research aimed to study the effectiveness of hope therapy on dimensions of quality of Life and self-esteem in depressed adolescent girls. Methods: For this purpose, a quasi-experimental pretest, posttest with control group was used. The statistical population included all adolescent girls studying in the academic year 2016-2017 in Isfahan, from which 24 depressed girls (12 in the experimental group, 12 in the control group) were selected through cluster sampling and according to the selection criteria. The intervention method included 8 sessions of hope therapy that was implemented for experimental group. In order to assess variables, Beck Depression Inventory 2 (Beck, 1996), Quality of Life Questionnaire (World Health Organization, 1996) and Self-Esteem Questionnaire (Coopersmith, 1967) were used. The data analysis conducted by multivariate analysis of covariance with pretest, posttest, and control groups. Finding: The findings showed a significant increase in the mean scores of dimensions of quality of life including physical health (F= 0.36, p<0.05), mental health (F= 0.30, p<0.05), social relations (F= 0.35, p<0.05), and perception of living environment (F= 0.32, p<0.05) in depressed girls. Also, the result showed a significant increase in the mean scores of academic self-esteem (F= 0.44, p<0.05), and self-esteem (F= 0.40., p<0.05) in these students. Conclusion: Therefore, hope therapy is effective in increasing self-esteem and quality of life in depressed adolescent girls and can be used in schools and counseling centers to reduce depression by designing educational and cultural programs focusing on hope, preventing depression in adolescents, and improving their quality of life and self-esteem.

---

Aim:  The aim of this study was to investigate the role of cognitive emotion regulation mediators in the relationship between domestic violence, attachment styles and women's psychological well-being. Methods: All married women in Tehran in 1400 formed the statistical population of the present study, from which 360 people were selected by available sampling method. To collect data from the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnesgi and Craig, 2006), Psychological Well-Being (Reef 1995), Adult Attachment (Collins and Reed, 1990), and Domestic Violence (Sherin, Cena, Core, Lee, Zitter, & Shaquille, 1998). ) became. Data were analyzed by path analysis and SPSS software version 25 and PLS version 3.3. Findings: The results showed that the direct effect of faith attachment on women's psychological well-being was significant (p <0.05). Direct protective attachment and domestic violence are not compromised strategies (p <0.05). The direct effect of uncompromising strategies on women's psychological well-being is significant (p <0.05). Uncompromised strategies play a mediating role in the relationship between caring attachment style and women's psychological well-being (p <0.05). The direct effect of adapted strategies on women's psychological well-being is not significant (p <0.05). The direct environment of attachment, secure attachment and domestic violence is significant on adapted strategies (p <0.05). Adapted strategies do not mediate the relationship between attachment style, domestic violence and women's psychological well-being (p <0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, their psychological well-being can be increased by strengthening secure attachment and teaching women cognitive regulation strategies.
 

---

Aim: This research was conducted with the aim of designing and validating the Mentalization promoting program for parents of a child with type 1 diabetes and investigating its effectiveness on parents' reflective Functioning and emotional-behavioral problems of the child. Methods: A mixed method was used in this research. In the qualitative part, the mentalization problems of 18 children with T1D and 22 of their parents were extracted through the analysis of interviews with the method of transcendental phenomenology, and three general themes,18 main sub-themes and 50 sub-themes were obtained. Then, based on these themes and within the framework of the concepts of mentalization theory, a program to promote the mentalization of parents with a child with type 1 diabetes was designed. After confirming the content validity based on the CVI, with a semi-experimental method and a single-subject design of the type (A-B) with different subjects, 5 parents of children with diabetes who met the criteria for entering the research, were selected with a purposeful sampling method and participated in the program. The effectiveness of this program was assessed in four phases (baseline, during intervention, after intervention and follow-up) using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) and indicators of program goals. Then data was checked based on visual analysis indicators. Results: The final outcome of this phenomenological study is the extraction of three general themes, including the underlying factors of breakdowns in mentalizing, types of common mentalizing problems, and the consequences of breakdowns in mentalizing which became the basis for design the program to promote the mentalization of parents with a child with type 1 diabetes The results showed that the designed program, while having sufficient validity, was effective in increasing the parents reflective Functioning and reducing the emotional-behavioral problems of the child, and this effectiveness continued in the follow-up phase. Conclusion: Considering the validity of this program and its effectiveness, it is suggested that this program be widely implemented to help improve the physical and mental health of children with diabetes and their families, and also for children with other chronic diseases should also be adapted.