Journal of Counseling Research

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Aim: This research aims to investigate and compare the factors affecting the successful and unsuccessful entrance the adolescent stage of family life cycle.

Method: This is a qualitative study and the data were analyzed by using grounded theory method. The population consists of all of the families with successful and unsuccessful adolescents in Tehran city and the sample consists of 10 families having successful adolescents and 12 families having unsuccessful adolescents. Data were collected by using purposeful sampling and the semi-structured interviews.

Findings: The findings showed that protective factors which lead adolescents to successful or unsuccessful transition include the following: family domain, parental domain and social domain. The protective factors in parental domain have basic differences. They were different in communication styles in family, family management styles, family structure and economic situation of the family. Findings related to the parental domain showed that parental attitudes toward education, parental attitudes toward success, parental behavior toward social success and vulnerability in parenting were different in parents with successful and unsuccessful adolescents. Also protective factors in social domain were different with each other. The results showed that successful parents were different in social relationship management and adolescent behavior toward social success with unsuccessful parents.

Conclusion: In sum, studies showed that social environment, educating parents and their adolescents and also strengthening protective resources in family are needed to have a successful transition from adolescence stage of family life cycle.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and explain the communication reactions of female victims of infidelity. Methods: The present study employed a phenomenoogical qualitative methodology. The study population consisted of female victims of infidelity in Shemiranat in the year 2016. Data collection continued through interviews until theoretical saturation was obtained. For this 18 women who were victims of infidelity were selected through purposive sampling and were investigated using semi-structured interviews, and the elicited data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: The data analysis in regards to the communication reactions of women victimized by infidelity resulted in two main themes, 10 subthemes, and 29 initial concepts. The main theme and associated sub-themes were: A). ‘The dissociation of communications’ consisting of the following subthemes: 1. the dissociation of mother-child relationship, 2. the dissociation of father-child relationship, 3. the dissociation of marital relationship, 4. The dissociation of family relationships, 5. the dissociation of interpersonal relationships, 6. the dissociation of relationship with God; and B). "Communications continuity", consisting of the following sub-themes: 1. the continuity of spousal relationship, 2. improving the mother-child relationship, 3. getting social support, 4. improving the relationship with God. Conclusions: This study showed that infidelity has similar and sometimes different communicational effects that are experienced by female victims of infidelity. the effects of infidelity can be either maladaptive or adaptive. The results were interpreted based on the social construction and attachment theories.

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Goal: The goal of the present research is to determine the components of loneliness of teenage girls based on their lived experiences
Method: the present research was a qualitative research and the phenomenological method was used to conduct it. The sampling was goal-oriented i.e. the UCLA loneliness questionnaires were completed by teenage girls whose average age was 16 of whom 30 people whose loneliness grades were above the cut-off point were selected as the research population. The main research tool was interviewing and the data were saturated after 15 interviews and coding using the grounded theory.
Findings: The findings of the present research showed that the components of loneliness of teenage girls based on their lived experiences appear in the following order: 1- Loneliness in the family, 2. Communicative/social loneliness, 3. Emotional/personal loneliness. Considering the results of the interview and the thorough investigation into the loneliness experiences of teenage girls, it seemed that they mostly suffered from loneliness in the family like the feelings of being dismissed, ignored, blamed and also the feeling of mistrust of them on the part of their families. They deeply felt in their relationships and social environments that their needs for a companion and supporter were not met, and they suffered from finding no common grounds with others; also, they were unable to forge relationships with others and felt lonely despite being surrounded by people. Also, they experienced some emotions such as mistrust of others, hopelessness and surrender to loneliness and they were unable to express their feelings.
Conclusion: Feeling lonely in the family constituted an important part of the loneliness of teenage girls after which the communicative/ social and emotional/ personal factors take precedence respectively. With regard to the fact that the present research has been conducted in the cultural context of Iran, it seems necessary to consider the above-mentioned components in the therapeutic interventions and educational programs to prevent or treat the loneliness of teenage girls.
 

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Aim:The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of career social cognitive counseling on career goal engagement of individuals with visual impairment. Method: Statistical population included all visual impairment individuals who were between 18-40 years old and lived in Isfahan city. The sample includes two people with visual impairment (one male and one female) that selected using purposeful non-random sampling. Data collected using career goal engagement scale. This research was a single-subject experimental design in form of an AB design. In this method, after the baseline condition, career counseling based on Social Cognitive Career Theory presented during 10 sessions. Data was analyzed based on descriptive statistics' and visual analysis indices. Findings: Visual analysis using the index of percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) indicated that intervention had an effective on career goal engagement of both participants. Conclusion: By considering the presence of different barriers in the lives of individuals with visual impairment and the importance of career goal engagement, the vocational rehabilitation counseling based on Social Cognitive Career Theory can be an effective intervention for encouraging individuals with visual impairment to commit to their career goals. This intervention can be applied in rehabilitation services centers for individuals with visual impairment.

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Aim: The purpose of this study was to extract the lived experiences of working couples from marital conflicts. Methods: This study was conducted with a qualitative approach using interpretive phenomenology. In this study, researchers interviewed 12 working couples with marital conflicts using purposeful sampling. Interviews were analyzed using interpretive phenomenology. Findings: Analyzing the data from the interviews led to the identification of the 14 main themes: financial conflict, inappropriate interactions in social media, lack of participation in house chores, ineffective communication, inability in reciprocal empathy and expression,  lack of time management,  conflict of roles and responsibilities, cognition vulnerability, adherence to gender stereotypes, inability to manage tasks at job and work environment, work-family conflict, power struggles, ultra-personal destructive factors and belief and ethical problems, 55 primary and 12 secondary themes in the lived experiences of working couples from marital conflicts. Conclusion: A dual-career family is a place where couples are more likely to enter into marital conflicts if they do not realize fairness in various areas of family and work. The results of the present study showed that the families of career couples may be a high-risk group in terms of conflict, and this factor indicates the need for a negotiating role in the relationship between this type of couple. This highlights the need for special couple therapy for these couples. The results of the present study also showed that ineffective communication, cognitive vulnerability, work-family interaction, financial conflict and lack of participation in home affairs, were the most common causes of marital conflict; so it is recommended that preventive and educational programs for couples include the abovementioned factors.

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Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the components of smoking tendency in youth from the perspective of addiction and smoking experts. Methods: in this study, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method were used. Participants included experts in the fields of addictions and smoking and smokers (therapists, researchers, professors and teachers) in 1399 who were selected using purposive sampling. Sampling was done using interview tools (semi-structured) in order to receive the data until the saturation point and then the collected information was analyzed by coding method (main and secondary). Findings: The analysis of the research findings led to the extraction of 85 primary concepts, 38 subcategories and 15 main categories, according to which, the main categories of smoking tendency in youth were: 1. The effective role of relatives in consumption, 2. Inefficient atmosphere of the family predisposing to consumption, 3. Motivation of peer groups in consumption, 4. Media coverage of smoking, 5. Influence of famous personalities, 6. Facilitating society in consumption, 7. Favorable consumption conditions in public recreation area, 8. Easy access to cigarettes, 9. Cognitive distortions about smoking, 10. Inefficient psychological causes, 11. Reverse reaction to superficial inhibitors in consumption, 12. Weak adaptive skills, 13. Consideration of behavioral attractiveness, 14. Media’s superficial portrayal of the harms of consumption, and 15. Recreational consumption. Finally, the combination of the main categories led to the extraction of two core themes, including the interpersonal components, the extra-personal component, and the intrapersonal components of the tendency to smoke in youth. Conclusions: The present study showed that youth are affected by interpersonal and extra-personal factors such as the media, family, society and the atmosphere of peers with common interests or intrapersonal dimensions like psychological disorders, famous characters in movies, or skill weaknesses are more likely to tend to smoke and continue smoking.

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Parent-child interaction and the factors that lead to the improvement and promotion of this interaction are among the important and favorite fields for researchers. The present study was conducted to develop a curriculum for positive parent-child interaction, based on the lived experiences of parents of children with ADHD. This research is of qualitative type which has been done using phenomenological methodology. The study population consisted of mothers with children having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who referred to counseling clinics in welfare districts 1 and 3 of Tehran during the year 2020 who had first-hand experience of the phenomenon. Purposeful sampling included mothers with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. After administering the CSI-4 Child Symptoms Questionnaire (Gado and Sprafkin 1997) and the Parent-Child Interaction Questionnaire (Pianta 1994) to these mothers, those who scored above average were interviewed in a semi-structured interview and this process continued until a theoretical saturation was reached. Interviews were analyzed using the seven-step Claysian method. By adapting the obtained sub-themes below these main themes with the characteristics of the stages of change of Prochaska and Norcross 1992 (translated by Avadis Jans, 1399), the steps of the positive parent-child interaction program were developed. By analyzing the research findings, the following main themes were identified as characteristics of lived experiences of mothers with positive parent-child interaction with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder: Managing the child's energy level, monitoring tasks and responsibilities, supportive and organized mother-child relationship and situation management dependent on hyperactivity. According to the obtained results, it can be concluded that the developed program of positive parent-child interaction is practical and counselors can use this program in working with mothers with children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.