Background:The somatosensory amplification scale (SSAS) is a 10-item self-report instrument designed to assess a tendency to experience normal somatic and visceral sensations as intense, noxious, and disturbing.Objectives:The present study investigated the reliability and validity of the SSAS, developed by Barsky et al. (1988), in the Iranian population.Materials and Methods:The study was carried out on 240 patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders and 30 healthy persons selected by convenience sampling from 2013 to 2014. The patients completed the SSAS, the somatization subscale of the symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R som), and the modified somatic perception questionnaire (MSPQ), whereas the healthy persons completed just the SSAS.Results:Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the one-factor solution, accounting for 29.42% of the variance, explained that the SSAS items were represented by one global dimension. The SSAS had acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.78) and good test-retest reliability (r = 0.80). The item-to-scale correlations varied from 0.17 to 0.55. Item 2 had the lowest item-total score correlation (r = 0.17), and the α coefficient for the SSAS exceeded when this item was deleted. The convergent validity of the SSAS with somatization was shown with a significant correlation between the SSAS, SCL-90-R som (r = 0.36), and MSPQ scores (r = 0.52). Discriminant validity analysis showed no significant difference in the SSAS between the patient and control groups (P > 0.05) and non-specificity of the SSAS for patients.Conclusions:In sum, the SSAS has acceptable reliability and validity for the Iranian population and the scale measures the same the original scale, namely somatosensory amplification.

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Introduction: The present study was conducted with the aim of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on treatment adherence in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental design with an experimental group and a control group with pre-test, post-test and two-month follow-up. This study was conducted in 2019 in Tehran in the statistical population of people with NAFLD diagnosis. In this study, 30 individuals with NAFLD were purposefully selected and they were randomly assigned to two groups and received a pre-test. Then, the experimental group underwent group intervention of acceptance and commitment therapy during two months of ten sessions while the control group had received the typical routine interventions from medical centers. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (Moriski et al., 2008) was conducted in the all of three stages of measurement. In order to analyze the data, repeated measures analysis of variance test with SPSS-16 software was used. Results: The trend of changes in the intervention group compared to the control group in the measurement stages in the treatment adherence to the treatment (F= 4.243, P=0.03) was significantly different (P <0.05) and about 15% of the differences observed in this variable is due to group membership (intervention). To compare these changes over time, Benfron's subtest was used. The difference between pre-test with post-test and follow-up were only significant in the intervention group (P <0.05). Conclusion: Acceptance and commitment-based therapy increases treatment adherence. Therefore, it is suggested that this method be used to increase treatment adherence in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver.

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Introduction: Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a chronic psychological disorder that causes serious damage to the mental, emotional and communication health of patients. Aim:The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), on distress tolerance and the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).Method: This study was designed using a Quasi-experimental method and pre-test, post-test as and control group. The study population included all patients referred to the psychiatric ward of Mostafa Khomeini Hospital in Dorood between 2018 and 2019. For this purpose, 20 patients with OCD were selected by convenience sampling and assigned to two groups of ACT and control. Each group was tested before and after the intervention by the Yale-Brown scale and the distress tolerance questionnaire (DTQ). The experimental group received 8 sessions of treatment based on ACT and the control group was not subjected to therapy. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) through SPSS Statistics 24 and presented by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results:The results suggest that ACT had a significant statistical effect on reducing OCD symptoms (P= 0.000, F= 92.503) and increasing distress tolerance (P= 0/000, F= 33.889). Its effect on the obsession and distress tolerance variables was 87.7% and 72.3%, respectively. Conclusion:Considering the therapeutic elements of ACT and its coordination with the psychological problems of OCD, it can be a suitable therapy for these patients.

Researchers have been divided on the efficacy of computerized cognitive training (CCT) for enhancing spatial abilities, transfer of training, and improving malleability of skills. In this study, we assessed the effects of puzzle video game training on subsequent mental rotation (MR) and mental folding (MF) performance among adults with no cognitive impairment. We assessed participants at baseline with the Shepard-Metzler MR test followed by the differential aptitude test: space relations MF test (i.e., far transfer). We ranked participants’ skills on these pre-tests and used a matching technique to form two skill groups from which we then randomly assigned members of each skill group either to an experimental group or a wait-list control group. The experimental group played two puzzle video games closely related to two-dimensional and three-dimensional MR tasks during 4-week training sessions (total of 12 hour of video games). Post-training, participants completed the MR and MF tests again. Two months later, we re-assessed only the experimental group’s spatial skills to explore the sustainability of the trained performance. In addition to response times (RT) and error scores (ES), reported separately, we combined these variables into rate correct scores (RCS) to form an integrated measure of potential speed-accuracy trade-offs (SAT). As a result, we did not find significant improvements in MR performance from CCT engagement, nor did participants show a transfer of skills obtained by practicing MR-related puzzle games to a MF task. Based on the current findings, we urge caution when proposing a game-based intervention as a training tool to enhance spatial abilities. We argue that separately interpreting individual test measures can be misleading, as they only partially represent performance. In contrast, composite scores illuminate underlying cognitive strategies and best determine whether an observed improvement is attributable to enhanced capacities or individual heuristics and learned cognitive shortcuts.

The purpose of the present research was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation on executive functions of war survivors with pos t-traumatic s tress (PTSD). Materials and Methods: It was semi-experimental research with pre-tes t, pos t-tes t, experiment, and control groups. The population of the research includes all injured people of Kermanshah City. 30 subjects were selected by purposeful sampling (15 per group). Barkley's psychological executive functions disorder scale (BDEFS) and Wooders et al. Traumatic Stress Disorder Lis t (1994) were used to collecting data. Results: The results showed that cognitive rehabilitation increased self-control/inhibition, self-motivation, and total score of executive performances in the experimental group compared with the control group. The same findings were observed in the follow-up tes ts, which indicated the persis tent effect of cognitive rehabilitation on mentioned s tructures. Conclusion: Cognitive rehabilitation can be used as an effective therapeutic approach to reduce psychological and physical dysfunctions as well as to improve executive performances in people with war-related injuries and PTSD.