مطالب

Objective: This research aimed to develop a training package on marital skills and its effectiveness in improving intimacy and psychological well-being of couples involved in marital conflicts. Methods:  The research method in the qualitative part was content analysis, and in the quantitative part, a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group. The statistical population in the qualitative section was 10 specialists in the field of counseling and psychology, and in the qualitative section, couples with conflict in the city of Shahrekord in 1403. The research method , purposive sampling method was used. In this research, 16 couples with the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental group (8 couples) and the control group (8 couples). To collect data, the Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ), Ryff's Psychological Well-being Scale (RPWBS), and the Marital Intimacy Scale (MIS) were used. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance and SPSS24 software. The results of the analysis of covariance showed (P<0.01). Results: Therefore, it can be concluded that marital skills training, as a social approach, had an enhancing role in intimacy and psychological well-being of couples with marital conflicts. Conclusion: The results of this research can be used by counseling and psychological centers, education and training, parent-teacher associations, welfare organizations, and all cultural institutions.

Aim: The objective of this study was to explore how marital conflict, mobile phone addiction, and parental loneliness can impact behavioral issues in elementary school students. Method: The research method was a descriptive-correlational approach. The study included 190 couples who visited the Qom Counseling Center in 2022, with 123 individuals selected as the research sample through convenience sampling. These participants completed questionnaires on Children's Behavioral Problems Scale (Yousefi and Shahim, 1999), Couple Conflict Scale (Sanei & Barati ,1996), The Smartphone Addiction Scale (Koo, 2009), and loneliness. Data analysis was carried out using Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis with the help of SPSS version 24 software. Results: findings showed that the regression slope for marital conflict (B=0.501), mobile phone addiction (B=0.46), and loneliness (B=0.314) are statistically significant at the 0.01 level. This indicates that all three variables have a significant predictive power on behavioral problems. Conclusion: The examination of the data uncovered a significant link between the average levels of conflict in marriages, addiction to mobile phones, feelings of loneliness in parents, and the behavioral challenges faced by students. Additionally, the findings from the step-by-step regression analysis suggested that the factors of marital conflict, mobile phone addiction, and parental loneliness were able to explain the variation in behavioral difficulties.

Most studies on placebo mechanisms rely on Expectancy Theory, which suggests that conceptual expectations can bring about physiological change. However, the exact processes underlying this effect remain unclear. Perceptual Symbol Systems (PSS) Theory, grounded in Embodied Cognition Theory, offers a more specific explanation: mental representations grounded in sensory-motor systems may directly evoke bodily responses. This study tested whether embodied primes, based on PSS Theory, elicit stronger placebo responses than traditional expectancy-based suggestions. Using a within-subjects design, 71 university students underwent a cold pressure task under three conditions: (1) verbal suggestion of an analgesic cream, (2) visual priming with a photo of a person looking upward, and (3) combined visual-motor priming, where participants also looked upward themselves. The placebo response was measured by changes in pain intensity and heart rate. Results showed that both embodied conditions (visual and visual-motor priming) produced stronger placebo responses than the verbal suggestion condition, as indicated by lower pain intensity and reduced heart rate (F(2,140)=5.83; p<.01). However, the difference between the two embodied conditions was not statistically significant in terms of pain ratings. Notably, visual-motor priming led to a greater reduction in heart rate than visual priming alone (F(6,330)=1.99; p=.06), suggesting a subtle additive effect of motor engagement. These findings support the role of unconscious embodied processes—specifically, perceptual and motor representations—in modulating placebo responses. They offer a promising direction for understanding how non-verbal bodily cues may influence the complex perception of pain.