International Journal of Health Studies
Volume:7 Issue: 4, Oct-Dec 2021

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) threatens one’s socialization ability, and a lack of social skills can cause dysfunctions and mental health problems for adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the effect of communication skills training and enrichment on social responsiveness and social communication skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and their parents in Shiraz.

The study method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design and a control group. The statistical population comprised adolescents with ASD at clinics in Shiraz, Iran, in 2019. The sample was selected from adolescents who had been diagnosed with ASD by the exceptional education organization of Fars province, and the participants were randomly allocated to two experimental and control groups (n=20 per group). The research instruments included the social skills improvement system rating scale and the social responsiveness scale with the Autism diagnostic interview. Data were analyzed by descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multivariable analysis of covariance).

The results showed that the communication skills training and enrichment program did not significantly affect the parents’ social responsiveness or the adolescents’ social communication skills. However, a significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in terms of parents’ social communication skills (Pvalue=0.007).

Based on research results it can be hence concluded that communication skills training and enrichment can be used to improve social communication skills in parents of adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder.

Suicide has occurred in all cultures and eras is a disaster for the individual, family, and society. Dialectical behavior therapy is a practical treatment for major depressive disorder. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dialectical behavior therapy on negative automatic thoughts, suicidal ideation, and life expectancy in female students of Yasooj university of medical sciences.

The research method is quasi-experimental and the statistical population of the study included female students of Yasooj university of medical sciences in the age range of 18 to 25 years. The sample size was 40 people who were selected by a convenience sampling method and were randomly divided into two groups of dialectical behavior therapy and control group. To collect data, Snyder hope scale, negative automatic thought scale, and Beck suicidal ideation questionnaire in pre-test and post-test stages were used. In the intervention phase, the experimental group underwent dialectical behavior therapy for ten sessions of 120 minutes while the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software.

The findings indicate that dialectical behavior therapy was effective in increasing life expectancy and reducing negative automatic thoughts (Pvalue=0.001) and was not significantly effective in reducing suicidal ideation.

Considering the effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy on reducing negative thoughts and increasing the level of hope, therefore dialectical behavior therapy training is recommended to increase knowledge and empower students against depression and its components.

Borderline personality disorder affects many cognitive, behavioral, and even emotional domains of individuals. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of functional analytical therapy on controlling, expressing, and internalizing anger in patients with a borderline personality disorder.

The research method was a quasi-experimental pre-test-posttest with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of this study included all 43 women referred to Asal psychological Clinic in Karaj city in 2020. Out of 33 patients with moderate borderline personality disorder, 24 were selected by simple random sampling method and were randomly assigned to two groups of 12 (experimental and control groups). The functional analytical psychotherapy package of Tsai, Kohlenberg, Kanter & Waltz (2010) was performed on the experimental group in 10 sessions of 45 minutes. For experimental and control groups in pre-test and post-test anger questionnaire of Spielberg (1988) was used. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance mixed with SPSS18 software.

The results showed that functional analytical therapy has a significant effect on improving controlling, expressing, and internalizing anger in patients with borderline personality disorder (Pvalue≤0.001).

These results emphasize the level of performance of functional analytical psychotherapy in different areas of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional in the treatment of people with a borderline personality disorder.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders that can cause social anxiety and perceived stress in individuals. This study aimed to investigate the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on social anxiety and perceived stress in patients with epilepsy.

It was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design and equal control group performed on people with epilepsy under the auspices of the Khorasan Razavi epilepsy support association in 2019. Thirty patients were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups (15 patients in the experimental group and 15 patients in the control group). Research tools including Conver's social anxiety questionnaire (2000) and Cohen et al.'s (1983) perceived stress questionnaire were used. Multivariate analysis of MANCOVA and ANCOVA multivariate analysis of covariance was used for data analysis.

The results showed that the mean of social anxiety and perceived stress in the experimental group decreased significantly compared to the control group in the post-test (Pvalue<0.05). The results of one-way analysis of covariance with pre-test control showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of social anxiety (F=65.75 and Pvalue<0.001). Moreover, there was a significant difference between patients with epilepsy in the experimental group and the control group in terms of perceived stress (F=138.56 and Pvalue<0.001).

It can be said that the ACT can reduce social anxiety and perceived stress in patients with epilepsy

Free radical production, changes in the proteome, and lipid peroxidation are the consequences of hyperglycemia in diabetes. This study aimed to examine the changes in plasma proteome along with oxidative status in type 2 diabetes.

Thirty type 2 diabetic patients and 25 healthy subjects participated in this cross-sectional study. Fasting blood sugar, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and lipid profile was measured in all subjects. To measure oxidative stress parameters, malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assayed. Plasma proteome pattern was determined using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Visual analysis of gels was performed using software (Image Master).

MDA level was higher in the diabetic group compared to the healthy group (4.10±0.57) vs. (3.2±0.10) nmol/ml, (Pvalue<0.01). TAC reduced in diabetic patients (17.85±1.2) vs. (38.60±2.4) mmol/ml, (Pvalue=0.01). Some changes were observed in the 2-D gel electrophoresis pattern in diabetic patients comparing to those of the healthy group.

The results indicated the presence of oxidative stress in type 2 diabetes patients. Also, different proteome patterns showed the presence of different or modified proteins in diabetic patients that can be due to changes in the glycation of proteins or may be induced as a response to oxidative stress.

Serial interval refers to the average time between of the onset of the symptoms of two successive cases. Serial interval distribution can be used for the calculation of the basic reproduction number (R0), transmission rate, and study of an epidemic trend. This study aims to investigate the mean, standard deviation, and distribution of serial interval among the confirmed cases of COVID-19 using a Gamma distribution.

To determine the serial interval, 60 confirmed infected cases of COVID-19 (based on PCR test results) in February 20th-May 20th, 2020 were selected as the cases. For these cases, 37 transmissions occurred. The data of the dates of the occurrence of primary and secondary symptoms were collected by referring to the COVID-19 surveillance system and interviewing the patients

The findings showed that the median and mean of the serial interval were 3.0 and 4.5±3.5 days. The findings showed that the median of the serial interval was 3.0 days (with the inter-quartile range of 2.0-6.0). The mean serial interval was 4.5±3.5 days (95% confidence interval: 3.1-5.5).

Our report showed a shorter period for a serial interval less than the previous reported interval in China. It seems that regarding the shorter serial interval reported in this study, the basic reproduction numbers reported by the first papers published in Iran have been overestimated regarding the serial interval of 7.5 days.

Health tourism is an important and growing industry in the world. Iran has long been one of the active centers of health tourism in the Middle East region. Due to the important role of the medical tourism industry in the global economy, this study aimed to determine factors affecting and challenges on medical tourism.

A mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) study was carried out in the southeast of Iran, where has a border with Afghanistan and Pakistan countries. All patients who were referred to Sistan and Baluchistan province hospitals (six hospitals) between 2010 - 2018 were selected with the census method. In the qualitative phase, a semi-structured interview had done on 17 experts specialized in health tourism in 2019. All interviews were recorded and written daily. Finally, the data were analyzed by the content analysis method.

About 349 health tourists had referred to the selected hospitals from 2010 to 2018, of which 213 (61%) patients were male and 234 persons (39%) were married. The majority of the patients belonged to Afghanistan (190 patients, 54.4%). Four main themes affect the development of the medical tourism industry included human resource, specialized services, facilities, and infrastructure services and security conditions.

Despite the high capacity of health tourism in the southeast of Iran, a few health tourists used the hospital services. Planning and policy-making must be done correctly in the field of infrastructure, medical equipment, marketing, and advertising. Also, attention should be paid to transportation infrastructure for easy access to these centers, as well as training capable and specialized medical staff in various medical centers.

Diabetes is a chronic disease with a high risk of disability and death. In addition to physical complications, some psychological problems especially depression and loss of psychological capital are also common in people with diabetes. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) training on psychological capital and depression in female adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and follow-up. The statistical population of the study was all adolescents aged 16-14 years with type 1 diabetes in Sanandaj City. The statistical sample consisted of 30 adolescents with type 1 diabetes who were purposefully selected and randomly divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The PCQ-24 scale was used to collect data to measure psychological capital and the BDI-II scale was used to measure depression. The experimental group received 90 minutes of skill training based on CFT in eight sessions, but the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were analyzed by repeated measure in SPSS software v. 25.

The results showed that skill training based on CFT was effective on psychological capital and depression in adolescent girls with type 1 diabetes in the post-test phase (Pvalue<0.05), and had a lasting effect (Pvalue<0.05).

The results showed that Skill Training Based on CFT is effective on psychological capital and depression, so it is recommended that clinical psychologists use this training to increase the psychological health of patients with type 1 diabetes.