ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Sameei   A. (1)
Zand Karimi   Gh. (*)
Jaefari   MS. (1)






(*) Psychology Department, Refah University, Tehran, Iran
(1) Psychology Department, Refah University, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Psychology Department, Refah University, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Iran
Phone: -
Fax: -
ghazalzandi@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  October  20, 2018
Accepted:  February 16, 2019
ePublished:  June 15, 2019

BRIEF TEXT


Career life and family are two essential components of life for most people, so that the key to people's success is to advance their goals in these two areas of life. These two domains can have interactions on each other [1, 2].

... [3-8]. The conflict of work-family is an undeniable truth among police officers. The police profession is considered as one of the busiest jobs for some reasons, including long hours of irregular work hours, hierarchical structure, and security concerns, which can affect their families [8]. Studies show that between 40% and 78% of working people experience working-family conflict. ... [10-14]. Many of the leading researchers found a link between work-family conflict and many individual, family and organizational problems, such as family violence, marital dissatisfaction, reduced psychological well-being [17], neuroticism [18], productivity reduction [19], decreased job satisfaction [20] and ineffective parenting and spousal duties [21]. Life satisfaction in employees as a family-related outcome [22] and work engagement as a work-related outcome [23] are the factors can be affected by work-family conflict. ... [24]. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is one of the effective therapeutic approaches to help people with family and professional stress [25]. ... [26-29]. In this regard, Davoodi et al. [30] in a study showed that SFBT approach is effective in reducing marital conflicts and empowers individuals to choose logical solutions to the problems they face. Also, the results of a research indicated that it was effective in increasing couples' compatibility [31-33], reducing marital conflicts [34], improving lifestyle [35], reducing marital stress and reducing conflicts between couples [36]. ... [37].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of SFBT on work-family conflict in NAJA employees.

This is a semi-experimental research with pre-test and post-test design with control group.

The present study was conducted among employees of NAJA Prevention Center of Markazi province in 2017.

Twenty-four Prevention Police personnel were selected by convenience sampling (due to security issues and lack of access to the names and accurate staff information) and following answering the questionnaire were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups.

The Work-Family Conflict Scale (WFC) was used for collecting data. WFC: it is scored on Likert scale from "totally disagree" (zero) to "totally agree" (3). A score above 15 indicates a conflict, and less than 15 indicates no conflict [38]. In another study [39], the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the first and second parts was 0.91 and 0.88, respectively. Also, the validity of the questionnaire was assessed with correlation with life satisfaction, job satisfaction, role conflict and ambiguity and it was found that it has a negative correlation with job satisfaction and life satisfaction; whereas it is positively correlated with role conflict and ambiguity [40]. Prior intervention sessions participants were provided with explanations about the objectives of the meetings and their process and their questions were also answered. It was also explained to the participants that therapeutic sessions were used to reduce the work-family conflict and conduct a research. They informed about the informed consent and all participants stated that they would enter into the research process with willingness and informed consent. After the group assignment, the participants of both groups responded to the WFC in the pre-test phase. The experimental group received SFBT in seven 90-min sessions (once a week and for 7 weeks) in accordance with the protocol provided by Nelson & Kelly [33]; while the control group was on the waiting list. After the end of the sessions, the participants of both groups re-answered the research tool. To assess and control the validity of treatment sessions, during the sessions, the experimental group was asked to provide an oral summary of the content and performed treatment interventions to determine its relevance to the protocol of the treatment sessions. In order to investigate the effectiveness of SFBT on work-family conflict and family-work conflict, Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used with calculating and confirming the statistical assumptions by SPSS 21 software.

37.5% of the participants were in the age range of 31-40 years, 41.7% in the age range of 41-51 years and 17.4% in the age range of 51-60 years. 33.3% of the samples had diploma, 37.5% had associate degree and 29.2% had undergraduate education. Post-test scores of the experimental group decreased in both types of conflict than the pretest. The difference in the post-test scores between the two groups was significant in the work-family conflict (p = 0.006) and family-work (p = 0.007) (Table 2).

The results of this study showed that SFBT was effective in reducing work-family conflict and family-work conflict of samples. The findings of this study are consistent with the results of studies by Davoodi et al. [30], Mousavian [31], Nelson et al. [33], Zimmerman et al. [34] and Shakremi et al. [35]. In this regard, another research [40] states that psychological support affects the attitude of clients towards oneself in the solution-focused group, because attending a group, in which all members have same concerns can lead to a new mentality for these people. They no longer feel lonely and do not consider their problem just for themselves and they achieve a space, where they can express their feelings and problems. Such conditions can improve their relationships and their flexibility of toward their own problem.

It is suggested that in future studies, frequent and systematic evaluations of the treatment process should be made to ensure that the change process is objectively visible.

One of the limitations of this study was the lack of access to accurate number of statistical population and also convenience sampling.

SFBT is an effective in reduction of work-family conflict and family-work conflict of NAJA staff.

We are grateful to all the staff and officials of the NAJA Prevention Center of Markazi Province who helped us in this research.

This research is extracted from the master's thesis of the first author in the Refah University and there is no conflict of interest.

Researchers obtained all the ethical codes for research on human samples and obtained the necessary permissions from relevant authorities.

This research was supported by the first author.

TABLES and CHARTS

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