امیر وزینی طاهر

With the outbreak of a new corona virus called Covid-19, negative changes in health behaviors, such as physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleep, have occurred worldwide. Since the beginning of the epidemic, travel restrictions, social distancing, and the closure of many public places have occurred. The sum of these events has led to negative consequences on the mental and physical health of individuals, which requires a careful study of its underlying factors. Therefore, in the present study, the relationship between changes in health-related behaviors after the outbreak of Covid-19 and psychological distress was investigated.

An online survey was made available to a wide range of audiences with the help of social messengers. The study population included all Iranian adults aged 18 years and older. Data collection was done in May 2020. Psychological distress was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS 21).Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). This questionnaire includes questions that assess the state of physical activity and classifies physical activity into three categories: weak, moderate, and severe. Data analysis was done by SPSS 20 software.

1400 sample (mean age 13.7 ± 43.4), most and nearly half of whom had at least one chronic disease, participated in the study. Nearly half of the participants reported a decrease in physical activity since the onset of the Covid-19 epidemic. Half of the participants reported no change in sleep quality, and most did not report any change in smoking since the outbreak of Covid-19. The linear regression test showed a significant association between increased depression, anxiety, and stress with negative changes in the combined behavior change score. There was health. This test also showed that compared to positive change or no change, negative change in behaviors was associated with a higher probability of increased depression, anxiety and stress.

Our findings suggest that negative changes in community health behaviors during the Covid-19 outbreak are directly related to increased psychological distress. Based on the results, it is necessary to take preventive and therapeutic measures for mental health problems as soon as possible during the outbreak of Covid-19.

In the present study the software of motor performance assessment in pursuit tasks is presented with ability to calculate root mean square error as an important measure of errors to evaluate motor performance. Based on this research desired indices, the computer software was designed and developed using MATLAB, C++, C programming languages. To determine construct validity, the correlation coefficient between manual results and automatic calculated results was assessed which was equal to 1 correlation. Furthermore, subjects were asked to follow the circle, square and triangle paths of rotary pursuit device which resulted in 0/83 correlation. This software having multiple applications, benefits from the advantage to be easily used by researchers and users with different levels and has a very accurate output.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive motor training on improvement of cognition, balance and gait which has already introduced as risk factors of falling. Three month motor cognitive intervention with two month follow up was applied on 40 elderly divided into two groups: elderly with dementia (20) and cognitively healthy elderly (20). Half of this sample were males and the other half were females. Evaluations included fall risk factors (gait, balance and cognitive state), as well as falling parameters and functional indexes. Subjects had significant improvement in different parameters of cognition, balance and gait after intervention which was maintained in 2 month follow up. These improvements was followed by decreased rate of fall, fear of fall and also enhanced performance in TUG and FR (P

This study aimed to evaluate the literature in respect to the effects of motor cognitive interventions on fall risk factors among older adults. Thirty studies were included in systematic review which quantitative analysis (Meta-Analysis) performed on all of them. Interventions were divided into three groups: Imagery interventions (43 subjects), Dual-Task (168 subjects) and Computerized interventions (706 subjects). Small effect size was reported for mental imagery interventions, while effect sizes of dual task and computerized interventions were moderate. While several factors were detected that impact risk of fall in elderly, it seems that impairment in mental state and mobility has a special importance. Motor cognitive training cause more consistency due to reasons such as realistic goal setting, positive reinforcement during exercise, feedback and ability of self-monitoring performance.

This study aimed to assess relationship between fundamental movement skills (locomotor and object control) and level of physical activities (organized and sedentary). Role of body mass index (BMI) was also examined as a moderator variable. The population of study consisted of 6 – 12 years old schools students in Qazvin city، which 116 of them were selected randomly as sample of study. Fundamental movement skills were tested by gross motor development test (TGMD-2) and daily activities were assessed by last year activities inventory. For examining body mass index (BMI)، height and mass of participants tested. Spearman correlation used to identify relation between fundamental movement skills and daily activities. Based on study results، total fundamental movement skills correlated positively to organized activities (r=0/560) but no correlation with sedentary activities was shown (r=0/380). Study revealed that children with higher levels of organized activities have higher proficiency at fundamental movement skill but high levels of sedentary activities have no significant effect on these skills. Moreover، over-weight and higher than normal levels of BMI in children restricts their participation in physical activities. Since participation in PE class and programs play an important role in motor skills development of children، organized activities setting by parents and physical educators have excellent importance.

This article aims to survey the mental health status and the self-stem of freshmen and seniors at a Military University. The article is based on casual comparative type of research design. Accordingly، 55 seniors along with 55 freshmen from a Military University volunteered to complete General Health Questionnaire number 28 together with revised self-esteem questionnaire belonged to Cooper-Smith. Additionally، the information provided was analyzed by statistical measures of Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient and Independent T-test at 0/95 significance level. Findings indicate that seniors significantly surpass freshmen in the scale of mental health. Furthermore they experience sleeping disorders، anxiety and depression symptoms less than freshmen. However، both groups didn’t considerably differ from each other as to self-esteem scale. Still strong connection is seen between mental health and self-esteem in both cadets’ groups (p<0/05). Educational courses and programmers at a Military University result in improving the students’ mental health and similarly raising their self-esteem. Considering that cadets are spending their youth، they need more physical activity thereby strengthening their personalities. Bodily exercises build up students’ self-esteem and as a result prepare them for shouldering future responsibilities.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of these methods on quality of life among demented elderly men. In the present study which used a semi-experimental method، 80 elderly men aged from 60-88 years old were selected randomly (mean age=70/94) and divided into three experimental (Group yoga، multi-sensory stimulation and combined) and on control group. The results showed that there were significant differences in quality of life and its four domains in pre-posttests between three experimental groups. The combined group which exploited from both types of intervention had most improvements in scores of quality of life. Furthermore، yoga was more effective than multi-sensory stimulation in physical domain، while multi-sensory stimulation had more positive effects in environmental domain between demented elderly men. Overall، engaging demented elderly people in environments and activities which are high in diversity and frequency of stimuli can significantly help them from psychological، physical and social perspectives. The findings of this study can be applied in designing and practicing the health promotion programs for demented elderly people.

Social Environment، like class or sport team، determines the motivational climate that we perceive. Moreover، researchers reported that athletes of sport teams differ at psychological factors which could be related to teams’ motivational climate. So far، few studies have considered this issue in elite athletes. Thus، this study aimed to study perceived motivational climate and its relationship with anxiety and self-esteem in elite and non-elite athletes of team sports. Participants of this study were 116 male athletes at range of 18 to 29 years (Mean=24+3/7)، who were taking part in either elite or non-elite levels (55 elite and 61 non-elite). The instruments used were PMCSQ-2 to evaluate motivational climate، SAS to assess anxiety، and SEI to measure self-esteem in athletes. Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used to study the normality of data. Descriptive statistics methods were used to report scores of athletes، one-way analysis of variances to discover the difference between two groups and also pierson correlation test to study the relation between anxiety and self-esteem with perceived motivational climate. Results showed that perceived motivational climate was more task-oriented in elite athletes than their non-elite counterparts. But there was no significant relation between two groups in self-esteem and concentration disruption. At task-oriented dimension، elite athletes had higher scores in cooperative learning and important role rather than their non-elite peers. Evaluating the correlations showed that there are significant reverse correlations between: task-oriented climate and self-oriented climate، somatic anxiety and task-oriented climate، worry and task-oriented climate، concentration disruption and task-oriented climate، somatic anxiety and self-esteem، and worry and self-esteem (P<0/05). Based on findings of this study and similar researches it seems that performance of athletes is affected vividly by psychological characteristics. Mental factors can differentiate elites from non-elites. High levels of mental readiness cause increasing the success rate of athletes and promoting their competence، which causes higher motivation، self-confidence، self-esteem and finally promoting athletic performance. It is suggested to coaches that increase motivation in athletes by providing fine training، encouragement، rewards and well-organized feedback، as well as using strategies for increasing the self-esteem and decreasing anxiety.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mental preparation of athletes participating in 10th University Sport Olympiad on the prevalence of sport injuries. For this purpose, 375 athletes in two groups of girls (n=178) and boys (n=197) participated in this study. Participants were selected from seven sport fields which were divided into team sports and individual sports. Data were collected by sport injuries report form and Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT-3). Descriptive statistics (such as mean and standard deviation) and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data at %95 significance level. The results showed that most injuries occurred in lower extremities of the girls while most injuries occurred in upper extremities of the boys. Moreover, girls and boys were not significantly different in the three subscales of mental skills. The results showed a reverse and significant relationship between cognitive skills and occurrence of injuries in female athletes’ lower extremities (r=0.015). Also, there was a reverse and significant relationship between cognitive skills and occurrence of injuries in bones and joints (r=0.003 and r=0.046). There was no significant relationship between mental skills and occurrence of injuries in male athletes. In summary, findings of this study demonstrated that high levels of cognitive skills (such as competition planning) help athletes to more easily deal with different sport occasions. This can play an important role in decreasing the occurrence of sport injuries. Therefore, coaches and specialists in youth sport are recommended to improve cognitive skills in young athletes so that sport injuries can decrease. Overall, findings of this study supported different aspects of injury- stress model.

Home advantage plays an important role in the outcome of professional soccer games, but its causes are not still completely understood. The aim of this investigation was to study the home advantage within Iranian premier soccer league. For this purpose, data of nineteen soccer teams participated in Iranian premier league during six seasons (1999-2007) was collected. The criterion of team participation in this investigation was at least two years participation in Iranian premier league. Finding showed that home advantage in Iranian premier league was %61 and this figure was similar to the English (%61) and Turkish (%61.5) premier league. The findings also revealed that home advantage was influenced by factors such as distance and weather conditions. In addition, there were no significant correlations among goals scored by home teams, crowd size and home advantage. Finally these findings suggest that factors such as distance or travel effect and weather conditions are considered as an advantage for home teams and challenging factor for away teams in Iranian premier soccer league.

There are some psychological factors such as motivation and cognitive skills which affect significantly on athletic performance in different levels of competition. This study aimed to examine relationship between perceived motivational climate and performance elite and non-elite athletes in reaction time, anticipation and coordination. the method of research was correlation coefficient. Hence 44 elite and non elite under graduated athletes (Mean age=24±7) selected among team and individual sports randomly. The PMCSQ-2, Multi-choice reaction time, Bassin anticipation and two hand coordination apparatuses used in this study. The descriptive statistics were used to report scores of athletes in variables and Pierson correlation test was applied to study the relation between perceived motivational climate and perceptual-motor skills (P≤0.05). The results showed that there was significant correlation between task-oriented climate with reaction time (p=0.021), anticipation (p=0.030) and coordination precise (p=0.047). According to this findings and similar studies, athletic performance is influenced by mental characteristics vividly. It is suggested that task oriented motivational climate be created in educational environments to help clients to promote their motivation. This condition can improve information processing and coordination of neuro-muscular system.

Talent identification is a process through which those with the highest chance to succeed in the future will be determined. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the application of a multivariate approach in talent identification of adolescent soccer players. The research population consisted of all soccer players in Tehran province aged between 12 and 16 years old. A battery of tests was applied to measure the psychological, technical, physiological and anthropometric factors in adolescent soccer players in two levels of elite (N=26) and sub-elite (N=35). Participants were divided into four age groups: U16, U15, U14, and U13. The OMSAT – 3 was used to evaluate the mental skills. Furthermore, technical skills were measured by six soccer skills tests of Football Association of England. Physiological measurements consisted of vertical jump, sit up, 10m sprint, 40m sprint and 280m shuttle run. Anthropometric characteristics were height, weight, body mass index, length of lower and upper leg, skin folds in four regions and body fat percentage. Statistical method to analyze the findings was MANOVA. The results showed that among four groups of factors, the physiological measures were statistically more capable of distinguishing the levels. The results of the present study showed a significant difference between elite and sub-elite soccer players in physiological, technical and psychological characteristics, but there was no significant difference in anthropometric attributes. There was a significant difference between elite and sub-elite soccer players in sit up, shuttle run, 10m sprint, 40m sprint, running with ball, turning, speed, dribbling, shooting, goal setting, relaxation, coping with stress, activation, focus, refocus and competition plan (P<0.05). These findings demonstrated that there is more need to emphasize the importance of mental skills in talent identification models. In conclusion, a multivariate approach with regard to the age differences can successfully discriminate elite players from their sub-elite counterparts in adolescence period. It can be suggested that in talent identification process in ages under 13 and 14, physiological measurements are less used and technical characteristics are more emphasized.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of increasing arousal and its effect on athlete's depth perception. Participants of this study included the students of Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences. 58 students (23 female and 35 male, mean age: 23.3 and SD: 2.16) were selected randomly. Participants performed the study tests under two motivational conditions (with viewer and without viewer). The sport competitive anxiety test (SCAT) was performed to test the level of participant's arousal. Moreover, the instrument to test depth perception was the electrical set of depth perception (122B). Results of paired t-test showed a significant difference in scores of depth perception test between the two motivational conditions at 0.05. In other words, participants in high arousal condition (i.e. with viewer) had an inaccurate estimation of depth perception. This effect was the same in both sexes. The results of this study indicated that novice athletes in high arousal condition pay attention to different information resources or different peripheral cues which lead to inaccurate estimation of depth.