Journal of Counseling Research

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention and Schema Therapy with Exposure and Response Prevention on Obsession: An Effectiveness Comparison

Mahnaz Ghatreh Samani — 2024-11-12

Aim: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is one of the common disorders and there are many interventions for this disorder, but some patients do not get the desired results from the interventions. The aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy along with exposure and response prevention (ACT+ERP) with schema therapy along with exposure and response prevention (ST+ERP) of the intensity of obsessions and obsessive beliefs of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental having pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population included all patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the year 2023 in Isfahan city. Sixty people were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to 2 experimental groups and one control group (20 people in each group). The experimental groups received eight 60- minute sessions of ACT+ERP and ST+ERP. In this research, Obsessional Beliefs Questionnaire -44 (Group of Experts Working on Obsessive-Obsessive Cognitions, 1997) and Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) (Goodman et al., 1989) were used. Multivariate analysis of covariance statistical tests was used to analyze the hypotheses.

Results: compared to the control group, ACT+ERP and ST+ERP had significant effect on the intensity of obsessions and obsessive beliefs of patients (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the research findings, ACT+ERP and ST+ERP are effective in reducing the severity of obsessions and obsessive beliefs of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Also, ACT+ERP compared to ST+ERP had a greater effect on reducing the severity of obsessions and compulsions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Reasons and Contexts of The Formation of Parallel Relationships From The Point of View of Family Counselors Among Couples in City of Ahvaz City: A Qualitative Study

Masoumeh Bagheri — 2024-11-12

Aim: The purpose of this research is to identify the attitude of family counselors towards the reasons and contexts of the formation of parallel relationships among couples in city of Ahvaz.

Methods: This research was conducted using qualitative approach and grounded theory method through theoretical and purposeful sampling, in which 20 counselors of public and private family centers participated in in-depth interviews. The theoretical sampling process continued until the data saturation stage was reached. The collected data were analyzed using open, axial and selective coding.

Results: The emerged model includes three dimensions of conditions, action-interactions, and consequences. The "conditions" dimension includes the deterioration of public attitudes and opinions, virtual space facilitating extra-marital relationships, sensationalism and lack of body care, couples' unwillingness to talk to each other, not maintaining the boundaries of personal life, immersion in family roles and social, imposition of choice and hidden protest, experience of modern love and marital frustration, not being able to cope, lack of satisfaction with married life, "action-interaction" dimension, including trying to relieve the significant other, "consequences" dimension, including the elimination of the culture of shame and modesty, self-deception and other insidious deception, fighting with oneself and obsessively searching for love, social isolation and the prevalence of social harms, which are formed around the core category of "hidden objection to life without love".

Conclusion: Given that, parallel relationships are a danger to the health and safety of the family and society. Therefore, by using the concepts extracted in this research, experts can identify the platforms for the formation of parallel relationships and examine the strategies, and it can be a guide in couple therapy and pre-marital counseling.

Study of the Experiences of the Family Counselors of the Judiciary System to Identify the Effective Features of the Family Counseling in Reducing Family Disputes and Strengthening the Family

Somayeh Parsi Rad — 2024-11-12

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of the family counselors of the judiciary system to identify the effective features of the family counseling in reducing family disputes and strengthening the family.

Methods: This was a phenomenonological type of qualitative research. The participants in the research included 20 people (13 women and 7 men) whoe were family counselors at the judiciary system in several Iranian cities during 1399-1400 Persian calendar. Participants were selected using the purposeful sampling method according the entry criteria. Sampling continued until saturation was reached. In order to analyze the data, first, the data were recorded and coded, then analyzed using Van Menen's interpretive phenomenological analysis method.

Results: The findings of the research included 6 main themes and 33 sub-themes of counselors' experiences as effective therapeutic features. The main themes obtained include: goals pursued to reduce family disputes and strengthening the family, characteristics of counselors, facilitating and promoting measures of counseling alongside the court proceeding, failure of resistance in clients beside the court, interventions to achieve change in order to reduce family disputes and strengthen the family and the characteristics of the counseling location in order to increase the effectiveness of the counseling near the court.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the counselors of the judiciary system who have a lower divorce rate at the end of the counseling sessions and are more successful in solving family problems than their other colleagues, have personal characteristics and principles governing their meetings as such that it provides safe and favorable conditions for this group of clients and paves the way for raising issues, listening to them, and ultimately resolving their concerns.

Designing and Validating Administrative Corruption Prevention Model based on Psycho-Contextual Etiology and Representation of the Impacts of Administrative Corruption on Citizens' Lives

Saeid Zandi — 2024-11-12

Aim: Administrative corruption prevention in Iran lacks models based on psychological research. This study aimed to design and validate the "administrative corruption prevention model based on psycho-contextual etiology and representation of the impacts of administrative corruption on citizens' lives".

Methods: In the first phase (identification of the perception of public employees about the psychological and contextual factors that prevent corruption), data were collected using phenomenological method and semi-structured interviews with 14 public employees working in public sector organizations in Tehran, who were selected using convenience sampling and considering saturation principle. In the second phase (identification of the citizens’ perception about the effects of corruption on their lives), data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 15 Tehran residents, who were recruited via convenience sampling and considering conceptual saturation. In the third phase (determining the dimensions and components of the model), using delphi method and surveying eight experts, who were selected via the purposive sampling, the model was assessed and modified.

Results: The results of data analysis in the first phase led to formation of six main themes: cognitive characteristics, emotional patterns, personality characteristics, behavioral strategies, familial background, and organizational context. In the second phase, two main themes emerged: negative individual consequences and negative collective consequences. The third phase showed that the agreement of the expert panel with the whole model was 92.61% and with each component was 88% or higher, confirming the validity of the model. The model was finalized with five dimensions and 13 components. The dimensions are: ‘appropriate selection and appointment’, ‘individual and group counseling interventions’, ‘behavioral strategies training’, ‘organizational culture modification and promotion’, and ‘monitoring and feedback’.

Conclusion: A set of individual and contextual components have a potential role in self-control towards committing corruption. The presented model can be used and evaluated in designing and implementing preventive programs.

A Comparative Study of the Meaning of Life in the Atheistic Existentialism and the Quranic View of Allameh Tabataba’i

Ebrahim Fahli — 2024-11-12

Aim: The current research aimed to conduct a comparative study of the meaning of life in atheistic existentialism and the Quranic view of Allameh Tabataba’i.

Methods: This research was carried out with a qualitative approach and the thematic analysis method of Brown and Clark and the comparative method of Brady. The research population includes all the documents, written sources and articles related to the subject and the purposeful sampling method and the adequacy of the sample size of the studied documents was obtained through the data saturation method. The research tool was document analysis, whose validity was examined by the Lincoln and Goba method concerning four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, and the data were analyzed by the thematic analysis method.

Results: In the analysis of the themes, it was found that the atheistic existentialism and the Qur'anic view of Allameh Tabataba'i could be investigated and recognized with 3 themes respectively in the fields of epistemology, cosmology and anthropology.

Conclusion: The results indicated a consensus between the two perspectives on humans' existential need for the meaning of life and the emergence of a psychological crisis in case of any disruption in its realization. Atheistic existentialism and the Quranic view of Allameh Tabataba’i were significantly different in the possibility of meaning achievement, the ways of acquiring meaning, and whether to find or construct meaning (epistemology), the purposefulness of the world and the existence of the resurrection (cosmology), and human purpose in the world, the pre-birth essence, existential anxiety, and the existence of the soul and the inherent value of human (anthropology). These fundamental differences can be attributed to the human- and God-centered perspectives in atheistic existentialism and the Quranic view of Allameh Tabataba’i, respectively.

The Relationship between Personality Traits and Addiction Tendency: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies

Shekoofeh Dadfarnia — 2024-11-12

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between personality traits and the tendency to addiction with the mediation of emotion regulation in Yazd University students.

Methods: The study employed descriptive-correlational methodology. The population included all students of Yazd University in the first half of the 1401–1402 academic year, from whom 210 people were selected through available sampling method. Data was collected using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (2001), Five Personality Factors NEO short form (1992), and Addiction Tendency (1992). The data were analyzed through path analysis using SPSS software (version 25) and PLS version 3.

Results: The proposed model had a good fit. The findings indicated that the direct effect of neurotic personality traits on addiction tendency (ρ=0.00, β=0.30) was positive and significant, while the direct effects of extraverted personality traits (ρ=0.00, β=-0.32) and conscientiousness (ρ=0.00, β=-0.24) on addiction tendency were negative and significant. However, no significant direct effect was found between the agreeableness personality trait (ρ=0.09, β=-0.11) and addiction tendency. Additionally, the direct effect of neuroticism on maladaptive strategies (ρ=0.00, β=0.47) and the direct effects of extraversion (ρ=0.00, β=0.43) and conscientiousness (ρ=0.01, β=0.18) on adaptive strategies were significant. While there was a significant relationship between maladaptive strategies and addiction tendency (ρ=0.00, β=0.17), the direct effect of adaptive strategies on addiction tendency (ρ=0.06, β=0.12) was not significant. Furthermore, the indirect path of the neurotic personality trait on addiction tendency through the mediating role of maladaptive strategies (ρ = 0.00, β = 0.09) was significant.

Conclusion: The results showed that personality trait as an independent variable and emotion regulation as a mediating variable is an important factor in predicting the tendency to addiction, which can be useful in planning preventive interventions and training workshops in the field of managing and controlling emotion regulation strategies.

A Middle-Range Theory to Guide the Comprehensive Counselor Training Program in Iran: A Grounded Theory Study

Fatemeh Haghighat — 2024-11-12

Aim: The aim of this research is to present a theory to guide a comprehensive and quality counselor training program in Iran.

Methods: By adopting a qualitative approach and grounded theory method, data were collected through semi-structured interviews, in the context of counselor training programs in Iran with purposeful sampling; open, central and selective coding was used to analyze the interviews.

Results: The findings identified the core category of "personal growth and continuous professional development of the counselor and improvement of the quality of counseling". Other important categories and subcategories were "cognitive excellence" (strengthening critical thinking, strengthening creativity), "enhancing professional performance" (strengthening appropriate evaluation and effectiveness, continuous growth and development of communication and counseling skills) and "intern-oriented active learning" (educational and professional interactions, developmental assignments, continuous self-improvement).

Conclusions: As a result of this research, a middle-range theory was formulated to facilitate the guidance of a comprehensive counselor training program, which helps the beneficiaries to ensure the quality and adequacy of this program, also improve the rate of graduates who are ready to enter the counseling profession field and reduce the waste of resources. Policy makers and administrators of various counselor training programs can use this theory as a reference to provide a rich and supportive educational and training environment to help the personal growth and continuous professional development of future counselors; This will ultimately lead to the improvement of the quality of education and counseling services.

Validation of Gottman's "Success and Failure in Marriage" Questionnaire based on the Multivariate Item-Response Theory

Seyyed Behrooz Hashemi Tonekaboni — 2024-11-12

Aim: The success and failure of marriage plays a fundamental role in well- being of society and individuals. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a method to evaluate and predict the future of a marriage. As such, the aim of the present study is to validate Gottman's (2012) “success and failure in marriage questionnaires”.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study and the research design used a descriptive-correlation and test validation. Modern method of multivariate item-response theory was used for data analysis. The questionnaires used in this research were for validation, criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling, and attitude about Gottman’s past (1401).

Results: In this study, the best model for factor analysis was determined to be the item-response multivariate factor analysis method and with the aid of this model, two dimensions were reported for the Gottman questionnaires. Also, the items factor loadings, the parameters of the Item-response theory and the analysis of the Items were reported.

Conclusion: At the end, two dimensions of "fight mode" and "positive and negative emotions towards marriage and spouse" were identified for these questionnaires. Data analysis showed that Gottman's questionnaires have good validity in Iranian families and can be used in clinical, research and organizational environments and it is suitable to assess Iranian families. Also, the data in this research showed that Gottman's theory has good empirical support, regardless of the cultural context.

Commitment-Oriented Development Model of the Organization

Zahra Amanollahi — 2024-11-12

Aim: The main purpose of the current research was to explore the commitment-oriented development model of the organization.

Methods: The current research was conducted using the grounded theory methodology in qualitative research through purposeful sampling. The research population was employees of Isfahan province. Using a semi-structured interview, data was collected until theoretical saturation was achieved with 25 people interviewed. To analyze the data, the grounded theory method was used, and in the analysis of the data obtained from the research, coding was done in three consecutive steps: open coding, selective coding, and theoretical coding.

Results: In the present study, the findings indicate the identification of 300 primary codes, 80 open codes, 12 core codes, and 4 selective codes, which are generally categorized in 4 axes of commitment-oriented organizational culture (commitment-oriented behavior, belief and values), commitment-oriented organizational structure (commitment- oriented supervision and selection, organizational role and organizational justice), commitment-oriented organizational policy (participation and realization of integrated commitment) and commitment-oriented organizational climate (desire to growth, participation and support).

Conclusion: The results from the findings indicate that the commitment-oriented development in the organization can be implemented in various dimensions of the structure, policy, culture, and organizational atmosphere.