مجله مطالعات ناتوانی
سال چهارم شماره 1 (بهار 1393)

The current study, which is a descriptive – analytical study, was conducted to investigate the distribution of known disability-causing factors in families with physically and mentally disabled children in Khomeyni-Shahr County.Method & Material: Stratified random sampling was done to select 252 disabled individuals. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire containing 35 questions. T-test and Chi square were used to analyze the data. Most of the mothers had blood relations with their husbands (56.7%), and 27.8% of them had been physically abused during their pregnancies. 21.8% had had accidents during their pregnancies and had incurred trauma to the abdomen. 66.7% had not received specialized prenatal care. Most (67.9%) mothers were unaware of the risk of cousin marriage, and 77% were unaware of the risk of pregnancy after the age of 35. Mostly (69.9%) they did not know that they should not take medications without prescription. 48% had experienced psychological problems during their pregnancies. 40.1% had gone through difficult and lengthy labors. 27.8% of the disabled subjects had had some accident during their infancy and 43.3% of them had experienced febrile convulsions during their infancy. There were significant associations between cousin marriages and the numbers of disabled individuals (p<0.01) and cultural factors (p<0.001) in this county. Hence, a great share of disability prevention programs should focus on the establishment and expansion of Genetic Counseling centers. Furthermore, all-encompassing facilities should be developed for marriage and prenatal counseling and mothers and fathers alike should receive the necessary training.

Happiness, life satisfaction and hope are concepts that most people seek in the industrial era and machine life. Disabilities and physical problems are among the factors affecting the aforementioned concepts. Here we have compared disabled individuals’ hope, happiness and life satisfaction with those of normal subjects.Method & Material: A causal – comparative study was conducted. Thirty disabled individuals and 30 individuals without disabilities were selected from three nongovernmental institutes for the disabled through convenience sampling. The subjects completed the questionnaires on Hope, Happiness and Life Satisfaction. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze data. Happiness, hope, and life satisfaction were significantly lower in persons with disabilities than those without them (p<0.001). Disabled people have lower happiness, hope and life satisfaction. Disabled people need more psychological interventions to boost their happiness, hope and life satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to compare behavioral problems and test anxiety between normal students and students with learning disabilities (LD). The present study was a causal-comparative research in which multistage cluster sampling was applied. To this end, first the students who were suspected to have LD were identified in regular schools. Their LD was later approved in LD testing centers. Normal students were matched in terms of gender, age and grade with the LD students. On the whole, 110 individuals i.e. 55 normal and 55 students with LD were studied. Conners Behavioral Problems Questionnaire (parent - teacher form) and Abolqasemi’s Test Anxiety Inventory (1996) were used to collect data. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The results showed that students with LD had more behavioral problems than normal students, especially in the subscale of social problems. Moreover, there was a significant difference between students with LD and normal students in terms of test anxiety; students with LD had more test anxiety than normal students (P≤0.01). Students with LD have more behavioral problems and test anxiety as compared to normal students, which may negatively influence their academic achievement and peer relationship.

Nowadays, some citizens do not have full access to existing resources and urban facilities. To this end, urban planning has become an important means for reducing inequality in urban neighborhoods in developing countries. The objective of this research was therefore to investigate and demonstrate the existent inequalities in the city of Kermanshah through a comparative study of urban neighborhoods and the assessment of human groups in these neighborhoods. Method & Material: A comparative research of descriptive – analytical design and applied nature was conducted in which factor analysis and Arc/Gis software were used. For purposes of comparison, statistical data blocks of 2006 and 36 indicators were used that were converted into 4 combined factors through statistical methods. The aforementioned results were then assessed through the factor analysis model. The statistical population consisted of Kermanshah’s ‘22 Bahman’ & ‘Shaterabad’ neighborhoods (2006). We compared social, economic, cultural and spatial indicators among the human groups residing in these neighborhoods and evaluated their statuses. Based on our results, Shaterabad consisted of 24 ‘very poor’ blocks (9.1%), 77 ‘poor’ blocks (29.2%), 95 ‘middle-class’ blocks (36%), 54 ‘rich’ blocks (20.5%) and 12 ‘very rich’ blocks (4.5%). However, the status of the ’22 Bahman’ neighborhood was as follows: 13 ‘very rich’ blocks (12.4%), 62 ‘rich’ blocks (59%), 10 ‘middle-class’ blocks (9.5%), 13 ‘poor’ blocks (12.4%) and 2 ‘very poor’ blocks (1.9%). In comparison to the ’22 Bahman’ neighborhood, the Shaterabad neighborhood exhibits an unfavorable status. According to our results, inequalities exist between Kermanshah’s neighborhoods. Spatial, economic, cultural and social differences are clearly evident in Kermanshah. Hence, its urban issues must be put on the agenda and addressed as soon as possible.

Anger and aggression may instigate many behavioral disorders and hazards. Hence, controlling them is a must that requires proper planning. In light of the aforementioned, the objective of the current research was to study the effectiveness of teaching anger management and emotional expression skills in reducing behavioral disorders in maladaptive girl students aged 7-12 years.Method & Material: An experimental study was conducted through a pretest – posttest design. Thirty girl students were selected among those who were accessible, those who had scored higher than the rest in the CSI-4 test and whose maladaptive behavior was approved by the school counselor and principal. They were then randomly assigned to two test and control groups. Anger management skills were taught to the test group through eight 1-hour-long sessions held once a week. The control group however, did not receive any training. Distribution analysis was performed through the pretest – posttest design To test the main hypotheses of this research. There were significant differences between the test and control groups with regards to the severity of behavioral disorders in the following subscales: attention deficit – hyperactivity (p<0.01), oppositional defiant (p<0.01), conduct disorder (p<0.01), anxiety disorder (p<0.01), ticks (p<0.01), and mood disorder (p<0.01). The only two subscales that did not prove to be significantly different between the maladaptive children of either test or control groups were major depression (p>0.01) and fear (p>0.01); the effect of the pretest had been kept constant. The hypothesis is therefore approved, as 6 of the subscales of behavioral disorders have proven to be significant. Anger managment skills and emotional expression training can be considered effective methods for treat behavioral disorders.

The elderly population is increasing in number. No doubt, a positive attitude towards them can have positive outcomes. Hence, determining the factors affecting the elderly is an important topic. Thus, the objective of this study was to examine the role of religious orientation in attitudes toward the elderly. This research was of descriptive - analytical design. The study population consisted of 180 students admitted in 2008 in the disciplines of clinical psychology, theology, medicine and nursing at Mashhad’s ‘Ferdowsi University’. Purposive sampling was used. We expect the groups to have greater communications with the elderly in the future. The ‘Azerbaijani religious orientation scale’ and ‘Kogan's Old People scale’ (KOP) were completed by the students. Reliability, content and construct validities of the religious orientation questionnaire have already been evaluated in Iran. The reliability, construct and content validities of the KOP were evaluated by the research team. There were significant differences between males and females in their religious orientation & its relevant factors (p= 0.001). However, males and females did not significantly differ in terms of their attitudes toward the elderly & its components. Pearson’s correlation showed a significant association between religious orientation & its factors and attitudes toward the elderly & its components (p<0.01). The results of multiple regression showed that the religious orientation factors (beliefs, rituals and ethics) could predict attitudes toward the elderly (p=0.0001, F(2.148) =51.23). ANOVA showed significant differences between the four groups in terms of their attitudes toward the elderly (p=0.027). The findings of this study confirm that religious attitudes are related to attitudes toward the elderly and that we can predict these attitudes through people’s religious attitudes.

The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of people with hearing and motor disabilities in the city of Arak. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of sports facilities with their bodily conditions; the effectiveness of accessibility, safety and appropriateness of sports facilities on sport activities; and finally, to assess the role of disabled individuals’ physical activity in community participation.Method & Material: A descriptive - analytical study was conducted on the motor - and - hearing disabled people of Arak city. Among them 100 people who exercised weekly and who were accessible were chosen as the statistical sample. Stepwise linear regression was used for data analysis. The adjusted coefficient of determination (p<0.01, confidence interval: 99%) indicated that a significant relationship existed between the independent variables of ‘accessibility, safety and appropriateness of sports facilities’ and the dependent variable of ‘motivation for exercise’ and explains about 21% of the dependent variable. Moreoveoer, a significant correlation (99%) was observed between performing sport activities and the greater presence of disabled people in the community. Approximately 30% of disabled individuals’ motivation for community participation may be attributed to their sport activities. The accessibility, safety and appropriateness of sport facilities and equipment are not suitable for the disabled’ needs. Moreover, the disabled’ satisfaction is low. Greater focus should be laid on the three aforementioned indices to create more motivation among the disabled people to perform sport activities and in turn increase their physical activity and community participation.

Unintelligible speech is one of the main problems Deaf people have. In this project we taught speech production to a deaf adult in order to prove the possibility of learning intelligible speech without hearing and by applying other senses like tactile, kinesthetic and visual senses. We used two methods for speech intelligibility assessment before & after therapy: (1) Item Identification and (2) Rating Scale. The intelligibility of the /g/ sound and /ga/ syllable was evaluated on the basis of judgments of three native Persian-speakers who were not familiar with deaf speech. This single-subject intervention lasted for 12 sessions, through one-hour sessions held thrice a week. Based on item-identification, intelligibility of the contexts under study improved from unintelligible to intelligible level. Based on the rating scale, the improvement rate was judged at 100% by the three normal-hearing listeners. Our findings showed significant improvements in the intelligibility of deaf speech following treatment. So we could claim that acquiring intelligible speech can be possible – at least in the studied contexts – without any auditory feedback and through the application of other senses.