Objective:To investigate selected constructs of the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavior change regarding smoking behavior among people in the preparation stage, as well as motivation for cessation and nicotine dependency.Methods:A convenience sample of 123 smokers, during between June to and September 2011, completed the Persian version of the short form of a smoking questionnaire based on TTM, the Fagerstrom nicotine dependence test, and the motivational test.Results:Motivation for cessation was great (16.35 ± 2.45). The negative affects of self-efficacy were higher than those to other situations (4.02 ± 0.84). The pros and cons of smoking were 2.69 ± 1.00 and 3.78 ± 0.78, respectively. Temptation was influenced by nicotine dependency (P < 0.05). Early initiation of smoking was significantly associated with severe nicotine dependency (P < 0.05).Conclusion:The results confirm the role of temptation, increase in the cons, decrease in the pros, and nicotine dependency.
The present study attempted to work on the distributions of the Transitional Markers in a corpus of thirty articles related to the discipline of English Language Teaching. All of the articles are written in English, fifteen by academic writers who are native speakers of English and the other fifteen by Persian academic writers. Using descriptive statistics, it was revealed that the Transitional Markers belonging to the categories of contrast and purpose were more used by native writers and Transitional Markers belonging to the category of comparison & similarity were used almost equally by both groups of writers. Transitional Markers belonging to the categories of addition, time, result, place, example and summary & emphasis were more used in the ELT articles written by Persian article writers. Moreover, using inferential statistics, it was indicated that a significant difference exist between the uses of the Transitional Markers in the two groups of the articles.
Background and Objectives: Cancer and its conventional treatments may bring about some psychological and health-related symptoms leading to unstable cortisol level. Since evidence has shown that mindfulness based approaches can be helpful to reduce cortisol level, we aimed at investigating the efficacy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on decreasing salivary cortisol level in the women with breast cancer. Methods: in this one-group pretest posttest study, the women with early stage breast cancer were assessed to select eligible ones (N = 15). They were first trained for collecting salivary cortisol sample (before, after and follow-up) and then were asked to participate in MBCT, an eight-week session approach. Participants provided salivary samples in the morning (7: 30-8:30), afternoon (1-3) and night (9-11). To measure cortisol, Cortisol Enzyme Immunoassay Kit was used. Analysis was performed on the data of 12 participants remained, using repeated measurement. Results: the results of repeated measure ANOVA revealed that cortisol level of posttest (after 8-weeks of MBCT and follow-up period) in comparison with pretest was significantly reduced for morning and afternoon cortisol while it was not true for night cortisol. The post-treatment cortisol was not significantly correlated with age groups, education levels and socioeconomic status using repeated measure ANCOVA. Conclusion: Given that the women with breast cancer are at the high risk of psychological distresses and unstable cortisol level, we recommend mindfulness-based approaches esp. MBCT to health providers specifically those working with breast cancer patients.
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