درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Objective: Capture of attention occurs when a goal-irrelevant salient stimulus appears in the field of attention. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be salient enough to capture a great proportion of one’s attentional resources. The purpose of this study was to explore how novelty of outbreak news affects attention in everyday life. Methods: 162 participants were recruited using an online invitation and divided into two samples (early and late sections). The variables—salience of news, intrusive thoughts, endogenous attention, and knowledge of COVID-19—were compared between the two measurements using one-way MANOVA. Additionally, a correlational analysis was performed in order to reveal a model of relationships between variables. Results: It was found that despite the increase in infected cases, intrusive thoughts and attentional capture were decreased over time. To describe the relationship between salience of news and attentional capture a conceptual model was presented. Conclusion: In addition to the other physical properties of a stimulus, novelty also contributes to stimulus salience. In everyday life, novel situations can trigger intrusive thoughts and attentional capture. Nonetheless, it cannot be sustained after the novelty has worn off. The proposed model can be useful to understand further similar situations.

Introduction: Given the importance of screening as one of the health behaviors in cervical cancer, the aim of this study is to develop and evaluate the psychometric characteristics of Cervical Cancer Screening Behavior Scale (CCSBS). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 376 women who referred to Javaheri Health Center during the study period due to health problems, were selected through convenience sampling method. Then, the scale was developed and its content and face validities were examined. To ensure divergent and convergent validity, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used. Internal consistency method (Cronbach's alpha) was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the CCSBS and SPSS and LISREL software were applied for analyzing data. Results: The findings of this study provided strong supports, which confirmed the content and face validities. Regarding the convergent and divergent validity, perceived vulnerability, perceived severity and deterioration, and perceived barriers have a direct and significant relationship with the three variables of depression, anxiety, and stress. On the other hand, perceived motivation had a significant inverse correlation with all three variables of depression, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, perceived self-efficacy had a significant inverse correlation with depression. The results of the Cronbach's alpha indicated the appropriate internal consistency of the whole questionnaire and its components. Cronbach's alpha for the whole questionnaire was 0.78. According to confirmatory factor analysis, the goodness of fit indicators of proposed model was confirmed and the paths were significant. Conclusion: CCSBS is a reliable and valid tool for measuring the screening behavior of cervical cancer in Iranian women and it appears to be a comprehensive and useful tool for assessing women's beliefs related to cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening.

The purpose of this study was to provide additional research to investigate the effects of mnemonic techniques and digital game-based task on teaching vocabulary to Iranian EFL students through distance education. To that end, a quasi-experimental research method with a pretest posttest non-equivalent control group design was used . The participants of the study were 75 pre-intermediate EFL learners and were chosen from among female learners. After homogenizing the participants through the Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the vocabulary knowledge test (VKS), developed by Wesche and Paribakht (1996), was used as the pretest and the posttest. For measuring the reliability of the test, it was piloted with thirty students who were similar to main sample of the study, which was found to be acceptable in terms of Cronbach’s alpha. The only difference between the pretest and posttest was the order of the items to diminish the practice effect. Then the participants were randomly divided into three equal groups of 25 (two experimental groups and one control group). During a 30-day teaching period, students in the experimental groups were taught English vocabulary using mnemonic and digital game while students in the control group were taught lessons using the traditional methods. After 7 sessions, a posttest of vocabulary was administered. Results of data analysis showed that mnemonic and digital game-based task techniques had a significant effect on teaching vocabulary to Iranian EFL students through distance education. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the effects of the two techniques. The findings of this research may have implications for EFL learners, teachers and curriculum designers.

The purpose of this research is to know the lived experience of Ahvaz city teachers in teaching bilingual students and it was done by phenomenological method. The research community includes all primary school teachers in Ahvaz. Sampling was done in a purposeful way and all the samples were chosen voluntarily from among the teachers who dealt with bilingual students. The sample size depended on data saturation, which finally included 21 people. The data collection method is a semi-structured interview. After collecting the data, it was coded and analyzed. Analyzes have been done using thematic analysis. After analyzing the experiences of participating teachers, the findings include 6 main themes and 13 sub-themes. The main themes are: non-native language, inconsistency between the language of the teacher and the learner, learner's disability and teacher's fatigue, love to teaching, communication, local language, methods. The result of the research shows that establishing a friendly relationship with children, involving students and their parents in their children's educational affairs, using educational aids suitable for the local and environmental conditions of bilingual students are more effective in their education. Also, teachers of bilingual schools should participate in classes and workshops that provide the correct methods of interaction with bilingual students and relative familiarity with their language and culture.

Introduction: Painful diabetic neuropathy is a major complication of chronic diabetes with a significant negative impact on the quality of sleep and quality of life in diabetic patients. This study was conducted to determine the single and combined effect of primary motor cortex (M1) and left Dorso lateral prefrontal cortex (L- DLPFC/ F3) anodic transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in improving sleep quality and quality of life in type 2 diabetes patients with neuropathic pain. Method: The current study was a four-group double-blind randomized clinical trial. The statistical population consisted of all patients with type 2 diabetes aged 45 to 65 years, who were members of the Bonab Diabetes Association in 2022 and identified as having neuropathic pain by specialists. The research sample was 48 people selected through the purposeful sampling method and randomly assigned into three experimental groups and one sham control group. Patients in four groups received their respective interventions for 12 sessions, three times a week. The data collection was done using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the 36-Item Short Form quality of life questionnaire (SF-36). Results: According to the findings, only the stimulation of M1 and F3 areas was effective in improving the sleep quality of diabetic patients. In terms of increasing quality of life, the effect of combined treatment (stimulation of both M1 and F3 areas) was significantly higher than the F3 area stimulation and sham stimulation groups. Also, the observed effect remained stable until the 3-month follow-up stage. Conclusion: According to the results of this research, neuropsychological rehabilitation through electrical stimulation of the M1 and F3 areas of the brain was supported to improve the sleep quality and the quality of life of diabetic neuropathy patients.