مطالب

Students with specific learning disorders (SLD) have major difficulties in learning and using listening, speaking, reading, writing, and math skills. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of proprioception-enhancing exercises on dyslexia and dysgraphia in students with SLD. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The study population consisted of all girl and boy elementary school students (2nd and 3rd grades) with SLD who received educational and rehabilitation services from public and private centers for learning disorders in Ahvaz, Iran in 2022. Using convenience sampling, 30 students were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (n= 15 per group). The participants in the experimental group received proprioception-enhancing exercises in twelve 45-minute sessions, whereas those in the control group received no intervention. The research instruments included the Reading and Dyslexia Test and Dysgraphia Test. The data were statistically analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). According to the demographic results, the mean age of the students in the experimental and control groups was 8.64±2.31 and 8.30±2.47 years, respectively. The results showed that proprioception-enhancing exercises were effective in improving dyslexia and dysgraphia in students with SLD (p<0.01). It can be hence concluded that proprioception-enhancing exercises improve not only dyslexia and dysgraphia in students with SLD but also their academic performance.

The role of culture in planning and implementing educational reforms and in impacting the quality of the education system has rarely been discussed. This study aims to identify the features of culture in governmental primary schools for girls in Iran aged 7‒12 years. Using an ethnographic approach, qualitative data were collected and analysed. The data were collected based on a triangulation strategy, through observation, in-depth interviews with teachers, and content analysis of the Document for Fundamental Transformation of the Education System. Thematic analysis was used to discover, analyse, and interpret the pattern of data meanings. The findings reveal that specific components represent the culture of these schools: a uniform education system, bureaucratic structure of schools, square-shape architecture of schools, national curriculum, arbitrary relationships between members of the school community, and the professional development of teachers based on the top-down command. The shared values of school members and behaviour norms are concerned with the exact execution of policies and plans issued in the form of circulars from the Ministry of Education, which shape the daily activities of school members; this has led to the emergence of a culture of obedience, wherein the members comply with the expectations, prescribed policies, and plans set by the Ministry of Education. Although studies acknowledge the importance of identifying cultural context, school culture has rarely been investigated in governmental primary schools for girls in Iran. This study highlights the role of education policymakers in maintaining and solidifying the existing culture in these schools.

This study was aimed to identify and prioritize the dimensions and components of transformational leadership based on Fundamental Change Document. This research approach was mixed method. The populations in qualitative section involved faculty members, expert principals and staffs of the education organization and school principals. In quantitative part, involved all school principals and teachers of West Azerbaijan province of Iran in the academic year 2019-2020, which were about 26 thousand principals and teachers. Based on cluster sampling method, 378 principals and teachers were selected as a sample of study. The instruments in the qualitative part were semi-structured interviews; retesting and reliability between two coders were used to check the validity and reliability of the interviews and coding. The instruments in the quantitative part was a researcher-made questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by content. The reliability of the instrument was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha method. The grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data. One-sample t-test was used to analyze quantitative data. Findings revealed that; Dimensions of transformational educational leadership were classified into eight categories: Knowledge, attitude, personage, technical skills, ethical-value system, human relations skills, financial resource management, and social management. Also based on the opinion of principals and teachers, among the identified characteristics of transformational educational leaders, charismatic personality had the first priority, transformational attitude had the second priority and having managerial knowledge had the third priority.

Objective: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is a pathological process in the coronary arteries that deserves special attention. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to predict the emotion regulation strategies, i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, adopted by patients with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) using reinforcement sensitivity components, namely Behavioral Approach System (BAS), Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), fight, flight, and freeze. Methods: To this end, 322 patients with CHD were recruited from three medical centers in Tehran, Iran. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Jackson-5 scales of revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory were administered to the patients, and the data were analyzed by regression analysis. Results: The results revealed that BAS significantly predicted cognitive reappraisal strategy and also made the strongest contribution to the explanation of expressive suppression strategy; furthermore, flight and freeze were both equally the second most significant predictors of expressive suppression. Conclusion: Therefore, the interaction between emotion regulation and reinforcement sensitivity components should be considered in patients with CHD. Keywords: Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), emotion regulation, reinforcement sensitivity, patients, behavioral activation

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on anxiety and quality of life in women with breast cancer. Method: A quasi-experimental design was used to collect pre-test, post-test and follow-up data (three months after) from treatment and control groups. The sample consisted of 30 women with breast cancer in Tehran who had a high score in anxiety after screening. They were selected based on purposive sampling and randomly placed in experimental and control groups of size 15. The experimental group received 12 sessions (50 minutes) of emotion-focused therapy (Greenberg, 2010). The control group did not receive an intervention. Data were collected using Beck Anxiety Inventory and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - Breast Cancer (FACT-B) in three stages: pre-test, post-test, and follow up, and analyzed using mixed variance analysis. Findings: Results showed significant within and between subject differences (P<0.01) on measures of anxiety and quality of life. Emotion-focused therapy significantly reduced anxiety and increased quality of life in the treatment group relative to the control group. Moreover, post-test and follow-up levels of anxiety and quality of life differed significantly from pre-test levels, but not from each other. Conclusion: Emotion-focused therapy targeting emotional processing and expression improved [d1] regulation of clients' emotions and can be used as an appropriate intervention method to reduce anxiety and increase quality of life in women with breast cancer.

Objective: Bodybuilding has attracted a lot of people in recent years, but despite the popularity of using unauthorized and steroid drugs, it has caused many problems for athletes. The purpose of the present study was therefore to compare mental toughness and sense of coherence in natural and steroid bodybuilders. Method: This study was a descriptive and causal-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of all natural and steroid bodybuilders in Rasht in 2019 from 120 individuals (60 natural bodybuilders and 60 steroid bodybuilders) they were selected purposefully and included questionnaires on sport mental toughness Sheard, Golby & Van Wersch (2009) and Sense of coherence Antonovsky (1993) responded. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance by SPSS 24 software. Results: The findings of this study showed that there was a significant difference between the components of mental toughness and sense of coherence in the two groups (P<0.01). Natural bodybuilders had higher levels of Confidence (24.93, P<0.001), Constancy (15.60, P<0.006), Control (14.43, P<0.001), and sense of coherence (21.88, P<0.001) compared to steroid bodybuilders. Discussion: The results obtained from this research show that the abuse of steroid drugs has a significant impact on the psychological and physical aspects of bodybuilders. For this purpose, it is necessary to prevent possible injuries by providing proper information and providing psychological services to professional athletes.

Aim: A female teacher plays multiple roles in her life as a teacher, mother, wife, etc., and her occupational dissatisfaction can override her other roles. The present study investigated the issues and challenges of female contract teachers. Method: A qualitative approach and grounded theory design were adopted in this research. The target population included all the female contract teachers of Ashkezar in Iran, and 12 participants were selected by theoretical sampling in the academic year 2021-2022. Semi-structured interviews, continued until the theoretical saturation, were used to collect data, which were then analyzed by open, axial, and selective coding and categorization. Results: The analysis led to the development of 27 sub- and 11 main categories within a paradigmatic model. The main categories encompassed causal conditions (cultural and organizational factors), core category (dissatisfaction), strategies (behavioral changes and thinking about economic alternatives), intervening environmental conditions (familial-cultural and economic-political environment), contextual conditions (financial-software and inhibitory contexts), and consequences (teacher-centered and educational consequences). Discussion: The results indicated that cultural and organizational causes engender teacher dissatisfaction. In the face of these conditions, teachers change their behaviors and think about economic alternatives, leading to teacher-centered and educational consequences. Conclusion: Female contract teachers faced many challenges that negatively influenced their efficiency and motivation and made them feel disappointed. These challenges brought about some sensible and insensible issues and intricacies. In general, this study suggests considering approaches to motivate and involve in making decisions and put the guidance and consultation of female contract teachers on the agenda.