@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2008-2630    Iranian Journal of War & Public Health 2020;12(1):11-18

Background
Defect in metacognitive beliefs increases the vulnerability of children of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to mental health problems.
Previous Studies
… [1-12]. In recent years, researchers have further declared the role of religion and spirituality in various individual and social domains [6]. The number of researchers studying the role of religion has been recently increased in Iran, which is based on a cultural-historical and socio-political pattern. In parallel, such interest has been emerged in other countries [13]. … [14-18]. It has shown that there is a relationship between metacognitive beliefs and coping skills [19]. … [20-23]. Researchers and health care professionals have emphasized that access to religious resources can help people in crisis and predict post-traumatic growth [24, 25].
Aim(s)
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of religious coping skills training on modifying metacognitive beliefs among children of veterans with PTSD.
Research type
This research was a semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with the control group and one-month follow-up
Research society, place and time
This research was conducted among 20 students (the children of veterans with PTSD) in the Islamic Azad University-Roudehen Branch in 2016.
Sampling method and number
The sample size was determined as 10 subjects in each group based on Cohen's method, at the error level of 0.05, and the effect size of 0.5 and the test power of 0.82 [26].
Used devices&materials
First, both experimental and control groups completed the metacognitive beliefs questionnaire in the pre-test phase. The experimental group then received ten 60-min sessions of the religious coping skills, whereas the control group did not receive any training. The content of the training package was designed based on religious coping strategies with an emphasis on strengthening positive religious coping skills and reducing negative religious coping skills [27-29]. Five sessions were considered for increasing the positive religious coping strategies and five sessions for reducing the negative religious coping strategies and each session lasted one hour and 45 minutes. The research tool was the Metacognitive Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) developed by Welsh. A significant relationship has been reported between the score of this questionnaire and a general health questionnaire (GHQ), which is considered as an indicator of its criterion validity [29]. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire and its components has been reported 0.72 to 0.93. The reliability of the whole test was reported 0.75 and 0.95 to 0.87 for the subscales using the retest method in the 18-22-day period [7, 30]. The internal consistency coefficient using Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale was 0.91 and for its subscales ranged 0.71- 87. Also, the test-retest reliability of this test was reported to be 0.73 for a whole scale and 0.85 - 0.87 for its subscales through four weeks [31]. After the training course, as well as one month after the training course, both groups answered the MCQ-30 again. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22 software using a multivariate analysis of variance.
Findings by Text
The average age of the experimental group was 25.60 ±4.72 years and the control group was 26.60 ± 3.71 years. The mean age of the father in the experimental group was 54.10 ±4.38 years and in the control group was 53.20±3.43 years. The mean level of injury of fathers was 33.50±7.47 in the experimental group and 36.50±7.42 in the control group. Also, the average number of academicyears of fathers in the experimental and control groups was 2.70 ±2.91 and 2.40 ±2.40 years, respectively. The mean scores of the research variables in the pretest stage were not significantly different between the experimental and control groups (P <0.05). In the post-test stage, only the components of positive beliefs about worry (P = 3.311; p = 0.045) and cognitive self-consciousness (F = 0.642; p = 0.008) were significantly different between the two groups, but there was no significant difference between the two groups in other components (p <0.05). In the follow-up stage, there was still a significant difference between the two control and experimental groups in terms of the two components of positive beliefs about worry (p = 5.134; p = 0.001) and cognitive self-consciousness (p = 6.95; p = 0.001) (Table 2).The religious coping strategy training in the experimental group led to a significant reduction in the scores of the two components of positive beliefs about worry and lack of cognitive self-consciousness in the post-test stage. However, these scores in the control group increased at the same time. Evaluation of the adjusted averages of these components in the experimental and control groups in the follow-up stage showed that after the training course, the independent variable still was effective as the mean score of these components in the experimental group in the follow-up stage was still lower than the pre-test stage and did not change much compared with the post-test stage (Figure 1).
Main comparison to the similar studies
The findings of the present study showed the effectiveness of religious coping strategies training on modifying the two components of metacognitive beliefs, namely cognitive self-consciousness and positive belief about worry, and its effectiveness continued through a one-month follow-up. These findings are almost consistent with the findings of previous studies [18-20, 25, 32]. … [33-37].
Suggestions
Given the impact of religion on people's beliefs, it is suggested that therapists and researchers emphasize the use of religious coping strategies to change improper metacognitive beliefs.
Limitations
In the present study, the subjects were primarily selected randomly based on the inclusion criteria; therefore, the results should be cautiously generalized.
Conclusions
The religious coping strategies training improved some of the components of metacognitive beliefs, such as positive beliefs about worry and lack of cognitive self-consciousness, which continued after a one-month follow-up.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to all who contributed to this research.
Conflict of interest
None.
Ethical Permissions
The informed consent was obtained from the participants before the study and they were informed about the research objectives.
Funding Sources
The present study was extracted from the Ph.D. dissertation of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch.

TABLES and CHARTS

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