ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Abbasi   M. (*)
Pirani   Z. (1)
Zanguei   A.R. (1)
Zarei   M.H. (2)






(*) Psychology Department, Literature & Human Sciences Faculty, Salman Farsi University of Kazerun, Kazerun, Iran
(1) Psychology Department, Human Sciences Faculty, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak , Iran
(2) Psychology Department, Literature & Human Sciences Faculty, Salman Farsi University, Kazerun, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Students Affair Deputy, Salman Farsi University, First of Taleqani Street, Ershad Junction, Kazerun, Iran
Phone: +98 (71) 42226050
Fax: +98 (71) 42226050
abbasi@kazerunsfu.ac.ir

Article History

Received:  August  4, 2017
Accepted:  January 15, 2018
ePublished:  April 10, 2018

BRIEF TEXT


The effects of war-related injuries and psychological pressures continues in the family and especially the wives of injured people after the war [1]. Therefore, not only those directly involved in the war, but also their family environment are affected [2].

... [3, 4]. One of the actions of veterans' wives, which may be affected by post-war implications, is their cognitive function that necessitates its reconstruction. Executable functions refer to high-level cognitive affairs such as will, purposeful thoughts, planning, self-consciousness and behavioral self-esteem [5]. ... [6-8]. Another aspect of the life of the veterans 'wives the improvement of which can improve the lives of the veterans' wives, is their psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is the main purpose of creating acceptance and commitment-based approach i.e. the creation of the ability to make practical choices among the various choices that are more appropriate, rather than the practical choices just to avoid disturbing thoughts, emotions, memories, and desires imposed on the individual [9]. ... [10, 11]. Many studies have confirmed the role of psychosocial flexibility in a variety of psychological problems [10]. ... [12, 13]. Another characteristic which is related to war and the personal and social ideals of veterans' spouses, is personality abilities, which is one of the new initiatives of positive psychology [14]. ... [15-19]. Hope promotion cognitive training is one of the educational approaches based on positive psychology that can help to enhance personality abilities and also cognitive flexibility. Hope is one of the positive psychological structures that most research is done about it and consists of three different components of goals, paths, and motivation [20]. ... [21-26].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of hope promotion cognitive education on personality abilities, psychological flexibility, and the reconstruction of cognitive function of veterans' wives.

The present study is a semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest design with control group.

This research was conducted in 2017 among all veterans' wives of Kazeroon city.

A sample of 50 people was selected and randomly divided into two groups of experimental (25 subjects) and control (25 subjects). The sample size in the experimental method should be at least 15 in each group [27]. In this study, 50 subjects were considered in the present study to select a more realistic sample and increase the possibility of the generalization of the results. Entry criteria included the absence of severe physical and psychiatric disorders, non-addiction, the minimum reading and writing literacy, and the lack of drug use or other mental interventions at the same time. Exit criteria were the absence of more than one-third of treatment sessions, non-cooperation, and not doing homework assignments.

After providing the contact number of veterans of Kazeroon who were able to participate in the current research, several of them were contacted. Information about the research, its goals and its importance were given to the participants to participate consciously and satisfactorily in their research. Educational method was considered with two levels of hope promotion cognitive training. Lack of education was considered as independent variable and reconstruction of cognitive functions, psychological flexibility and personality empowerment were considered as dependent variables. The Value in Action Inventory [25], the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (AAQ-II) [28] and the Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire [29] were used as research tools. At first, both control and experimental groups completed the questionnaires as a pretest. Then, the experimental group received 6 sessions of hope promotion cognitive training for 6 one and half hour-sessions during 6 week based on the Lopez et al model (Table 1) [30] and the control group did not receive any training. After completing the training sessions, a posttest was performed for both groups. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23 software and by multivariate analysis of covariance analysis to examine the difference between groups.

By controlling the pre-test effects, there was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of overall score of personality capabilities, psychological flexibility and reconstruction of cognitive functions (p = 0.0001) and hope promotion cognitive training increased the level of personality capabilities, psychological flexibility and the reconstruction of cognitive functions in the subjects (Table 2). The mean scores of personality empowerment dimensions and dimensions of reconstruction of cognitive functions in the experimental group after intervention significantly increased (p <0.05). This increase was not significant only in the components of inhibitive control, selective attention and social cognition (Table 3).

The results of this study showed that hope promotion cognitive education was effective on personality empowerment, which was directly and in some cases implicitly consistent with the findings of previous research [23, 25, and 26]. Namdari et al. in their study of the effect of hope promotion training on the personality empowerment of of depressed clients, showed that cognitive education of hope promotion was an effective intervention to improve the capabilities of the virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, self-reliance, and excellence [25]. According to the results, hope promotion cognitive education was effective on the psychological and physical flexibility of veterans' wives, which is consistent with earlier studies [24, 31, 32]. In explaining these results, it can be pointed out that the cognitive approach to training the promotion of hope is effective on the components of physical and mental health, as well as on the increase of well-being and psychological well-being and adaptive behaviors [31], life satisfaction [33], lower depression syndrome [34], lower anxiety syndrome [25] , and inhibition of suicidal ideation [32] and this can help the person to come up with emotions and provide the individual's power to actively experience emotions and avoid experiential avoidance, which also means increased psychological flexibility and in other words, the reduction of experimental avoidance. ... [35, 36]. According to the results of this study, hope promotion cognitive education was effective for reconstruction of total cognitive function and its components including memory, decision making, planning, sustained attention and cognitive flexibility, but it was not effective in the reconstruction of the two components of control and selective attention and social cognition. These results were consistent with earlier studies [19, 24, and 25]. ... [37, 38].

It is suggested that this study, while controlling the severity and extent of the injuries of the husbands of these women, be studied further in other cities of the country. Also, according to the results of the study, it is suggested that cognitive-therapeutic training courses for the promotion of hope is used for psychiatrists and counselors that are related to the veterans' families to provide therapeutic counseling and psychotherapy with these patients.

One of the limitations of this study is to select samples only from the veterans of the city of Kazeroon, that it should be cautious in its generalization to other communities. The lack of control of the severity and degree of injuries of the husbands of the women studied was one of the most important limitations of the present study.

Hope promotion cognitive training affects the enhancement of personality empowerment, psychological flexibility and the reconstruction of the cognitive function of veterans' wives.

All the families of the veterans who collaborated with the researchers in the implementation of this research are appreciated.

Non-declared

Assurance about the confidentiality of information and the mental and psychological preparation of individuals to participate in the research were ethical considerations observed in this research.

The financial source of this research has been provided by the authors.

TABLES and CHARTS

Show attach file


CITIATION LINKS

[1]Dekel R, Monson CM. Military-related post-traumatic stress disorder and family relations: Current knowledge and future directions. Aggress Violent Behav. 2010;15(4):303-9.
[2]Saleh S, Zahedi Asl M. Correlation of social support with social health of psychiatry veterans wives. Iran J War Public Health. 2014;6(5):201-6. [Persian]
[3]Ghahari Sh, Mehryar AH, Birashk B. Comparitive study of some mental disorders in children of fatherless, martyred’s, veteran’s, and normal (7-12 years old) in Chalus city. J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci. 2003;13(41):81-91. [Persian]
[4]Afrooz GH, Vysmeh AA. The relationship between depression and how veterans sons with their fathers. J Psychol Educ Sci. 2001;31(2):35-50. [Persian]
[5]Molaee M, Moradi A, Gharayee B. Executive function and neuropsychological evidence among OCD and GAD. J Behav Sci. 2008;1(2):131-41. [Persian]
[6]Ghamari Givi H, Maqsoud N, Dehghani F. The effect of cognitive rehabilitation on the reconstruction of executive functions of obsessive-compulsive patients. Q Clin Psychol. 2014;4(16):101-28. [Persian]
[7]Crone EA, Wendelken C, Donohue SE, Bunge SA. Neural evidence for dissociable components of task-switching. Cerebral Cortex. 2006;16(4):475-86.
[8]Alemi S, moradi A, Jonabian A. The psychological (emotional and cognitive) performance of spouse's cancer during and after treatment. J Res Psychol Health. 2012;6(1):36-44. [Presian]
[9]Pourfaraj Omran M. The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy in social phobia of students. Knowl Health. 2011;6(2):1-5. [Persian]
[10]Hayes SC, Luoma JB, Bond FW, Masuda A, Lillis J. Acceptance and commitment therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behav Res Ther. 2006;44(1):1-25.
[11]Hayes SC, Strosahl KD, Wilson KG. Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York: Guilford Publication; 1999.
[12]Fledderus M, Bohlmeijer ET, Pieterse ME. Does experientialavoidance mediate the effects of maladaptive coping styles onpsychopathology and mental health?. Behav Modif. 2010;34(6):503-19.
[13]Westin V, Hayes SC, Andersson G. Is it the sound or your relationship to it? The role of acceptance in predicting tinnitus impact. Behav Res Ther. 2008;46(12):1259-65.
[14]Karimizadeh F, ShafiAbadi A, Farahbakhsh K. The investigate the relationship between personality abilities and the moral foundations of delinquents juvenile. Q Psychol Educ Sci. 2016;2(2):11-21. [Persian]
[15]Li T, Liu X. Role of character strengths and stress in psychological symptoms among chinese secondary vocational school students. Psychology. 2016;7(1):52-61.
[16]Seligman ME, Steen TA, Park N, Peterson C. Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. Am psychol. 2005;60(5):410-21.
[17]Peterson Ch, Ruch W, Beermann U, Park N, Seligman MEP. Strengths of character, orientations to happiness, and life satisfaction. J Posit Psychol. 2007;2(3):149-56.
[18]Kozlova NV. The psychological and acmeological approach in an educational practice of the higher school. Siberian J Psychol. 2008;29:79-85. [Russian]
[19]Park N, Peterson C, Seligman MEP. Strengths of character and well-being. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2004;23(5):603-19.
[20]Snyder CR. Hope and depression: A light in the darkness. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2004;23(3):347-51.
[21]Feldman DB, Snyder CR. Hope and the meaningful life: Theoretical and empirical associations betweengoal- directed thinking and life meaning. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2005;24(3):401-21.
[22]Chang EC, DeSimone SL. The influence of hope on appraisals, coping, and dysphoria: A test of hope theory. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2001;20(2):117-29.
[23]Steffen LE, Smith BW. The influence of between and within personhope among emergency responders on daily affect in a stress andcoping model. J Res Personal. 2013;47(6):738-47.
[24]Fazeli M, Ehteshamzadeh P, Hashemi Sheikh Shabani SE. The effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy on cognitive flexibility of depressed people. Thought Behav Clin Psychol. 2015;9(34):27-36. [Persian]
[25]Namdari K, Molavi H, Malekpour H, Kalantari M. The effect of cognitive hope enhancing training on character strengths of disthymic clients. J Clin Psychol. 2009;1(3):21-34. [Persian]
[26]Hosseini SA, Badri R, Salimy H, Kolyaei L. The effect of cognitive hope enhancing training on reduction of victimization of high school students. Q educ Psychol. 2015;11(37):1-19. [Persian]
[27]Delavar A. Theoretical and practical research in the humanities and social sciences. 2nd edition. Teharn: Roshd; 2001. [Persian]
[28]Imani M. Investigating the factor structure of students unconscious flexibility questionnaire. J Teach Learn Stud. 2016;8(1):162-81. [Persian]
[29]Nejati V. Cognitive abilities questionnaire: Development and evaluation of psychometric properties. Adv Cogn Sci. 2013;15(2):11-9. [Persian]
[30]Snyder CR, Lopez ShJ, Shorey HS, Rand KL, Feldman DB. Hope theory, measurements, and applications to school psychology. Sch Psychol Q. 2003;18(2):122-39.
[31]Rand KL, Martin AD, Shea AM. Hope, but not optimism predicts academic performance of law students beyond previous academic achievement. J Res Personal. 2011;45(6):683-6.
[32]Tucker RP, Wingate LR, O’Keefe VM, Mills AC, Rasmussen K, Davidson CL, et al. Rumination and suicidal ideation: The moderating roles of hope and optimism. Personal Individ Differ. 2013;55(6):606-11.
[33]Esteves M, Scoloveno RL, Mahat G, Yarcheski A, Scoloveno MA. An integrative review of adolescent hope. J Pediatr Nurs. 2013;28(2):105-13.
[34]Berendes D, Keefe FJ, Somers TJ, Kothadia SM, Porter LS, Cheavens JS. Hope in the context of lung cancer: Relationships of hope to symptoms and psychological distress. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2010;40(2):174-82.
[35]Alarcon GM, Bowling NA, Khazon S. Great expectations: A meta-analytic examination of optimism and hope. Person Individ Differ. 2013;54(7):821-7.
[36]Harris R. Embracing your demons: An overview of acceptance and commitment therapy. Psychother Aust. 2006;12(4):2-8.
[37]Haglund ME, Nestadt PS, Cooper NS, Southwick SM, Charney DS. Psychobiological mechanisms of resilience: Relevance to prevention and treatment of stress-related psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol. 2007;19(3):889-920.
[38]Masuda A, Tully EC. The role of mindfulness and psychological flexibility in somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress in a nonclinical college sample. J Evid Base Complement Altern Med. 2012;17(1):66-71.