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Hadiseh Eyvazzadeh Gharajeh; Farshid Fathy Karkaragh; Mohammad Ali Besharat; Mohammad Narimani
Abstract
Objective: Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder frequently associated with profound and multifaceted challenges that encompass a wide spectrum of internal experiences and interpersonal functioning. Among the most prominent of these difficulties is the chronic experience of loneliness, exacerbated ...
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Objective: Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder frequently associated with profound and multifaceted challenges that encompass a wide spectrum of internal experiences and interpersonal functioning. Among the most prominent of these difficulties is the chronic experience of loneliness, exacerbated by paranoid ideation, struggles in initiating and maintaining interpersonal relationships, and a pervasive sense of alienation from oneself and others. Furthermore, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia significantly grapple with challenges in emotion regulation; this includes an impaired ability to identify, understand, and effectively manage emotional responses to both external and internal stimuli, leading to mood instability, irritability, and disproportionate reactions. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of VR-based therapy in reducing loneliness, improving emotion regulation, and enhancing executive functions in patients with schizophrenia. Method: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design and a three-month follow-up, utilizing an active control group. Sampling was performed purposefully; after obtaining the necessary permissions and coordinating with the Ardabil City Psychiatric and Rehabilitation Center for psychiatric patients, a list of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia based on the assessment of a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist was prepared. In total, 60 eligible patients were selected after a thorough review based on the determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria included: eligible patients aged 18 to 50 years who had a definitive diagnosis of schizophrenia according to DSM-5 by the center’s psychiatrist, had at least a high school education (sikl), had been on stable medication for the past three months, did not have acute neurological diseases or severe brain injury, were able to verbally communicate and participate in sessions, and had achieved the necessary score in the basic cognitive assessment for participation in the virtual reality intervention, were purposefully selected after completing the informed consent form. Exclusion criteria also included: the occurrence of acute physical or psychological complications preventing the continuation of the intervention, significant changes in the medication regimen during treatment, absence from more than two consecutive sessions (for the virtual reality group), the occurrence of severe side effects from virtual reality, or the personal withdrawal of the patient or their legal guardian, were considered as exclusion criteria. Results: The results indicated that the virtual reality (VR) intervention significantly reduced loneliness scores, emotion regulation difficulties, and executive function deficits in patients with schizophrenia. The repeated‑measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects of time and group, as well as a significant time × group interaction effect for all three variables, demonstrating greater reductions in scores for the VR group compared to the control group and the stability of this effect at the three‑month follow‑up. Statistical assumptions for ANOVA—including data normality (Shapiro–Wilk test, p > .05), sphericity (Mauchly’s test, p = .18), and homogeneity of variances (Levene’s test, p > .05)—were met. Post‑hoc tests confirmed that the VR group showed significantly greater improvements than the control group at both post‑test and follow‑up (p < .001), and that these effects were maintained over time, while the control group showed no significant changes (p > .05). Effect sizes (η² ranging from 0.25 to 0.44) further indicated strong and meaningful impacts of the therapeutic interventions, particularly the VR‑based method. Overall, these findings confirm the superior and sustained effectiveness of virtual reality in improving the assessed indicators in patients with schizophrenia.Conclusion: Overall, the statistical analyses indicate that virtual reality therapy is significantly effective in reducing loneliness, decreasing emotion‑regulation difficulties, and improving executive functions in patients with schizophrenia. Despite these promising findings, several limitations may affect the generalizability of the results. One major limitation is the use of purposive sampling, which restricts the ability to generalize the findings to broader populations or different clinical groups. Additionally, the relatively small sample size (60 participants) may reduce the statistical power of the study. Future research should therefore employ larger and more diverse samples to enhance the validity and reliability of the results. Another limitation concerns the focus on only one type of intervention. Evaluating VR therapy in comparison with other psychological or pharmacological treatments could provide a more comprehensive understanding of its relative effectiveness. Future studies are encouraged to incorporate randomized sampling methods to improve generalizability and to include longer follow‑up periods to assess the durability of observed improvements over time. Moreover, examining the cost‑effectiveness and practical feasibility of VR‑based interventions in real clinical settings would offer valuable insights for clinical implementation. From an applied perspective, the findings of this study highlight the potential of VR therapy as a complementary tool within psychological interventions for individuals with schizophrenia. Given the observed improvements in reducing loneliness and enhancing executive functioning, integrating VR into therapeutic programs may offer meaningful benefits for patient care and treatment outcomes.
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Naser Goodarzi; Vahid Sadeghi-Firoozabadi; Reza Rostami; Abbas Rahiminezhad; Mohammad ALi Besharat; Ali Vasheghani-Farahani; Alireza Alizadeh Ghavidel; Saeed Imani
Volume 6, Issue 21 , May 2017, , Pages 29-51
Abstract
Abstract:Of cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of death in human societies leads to coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) as the most common intervention. The length of hospital stay after surgery is an estimate of the success rate of surgery that cannot be ...
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Abstract:Of cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of death in human societies leads to coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) as the most common intervention. The length of hospital stay after surgery is an estimate of the success rate of surgery that cannot be completely explained by demographic and medical factors. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the impact of psychological factors along with medical and demographic factors on the length of hospital stay after CABG surgery. In this study, 150 patients (30 females and 120 males) were selected from the convenience sampling method, among patients referred to Tehran Heart Center of Shahid Rajaie Hospital who were candidates for CABG surgery. Patients were asked to complete the questionnaire of 21 questions for anxiety- depression- stress (DASS-21). Stepwise regression analysis for psychological, medical and demographic variables showed that the most important variables to predict the length of hospital stay after surgery were anxiety and depression, diabetes and high blood pressure, age and gender. Thus, the results showed that the use of pre-operative assessment of these variables in the clinical setting, we can identify those patients for whom surgery may not be successful.
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Afsaneh Motovalli Naeni; Mohammad Ali Besharat
Volume 5, Issue 19 , October 2016, , Pages 69-84
Abstract
Objective: Considering to significance of psychological factors in occurrence of physical pain, the current research has been conducted for the purpose of comparing mindfulness and self-regulation in women with non-cardiac chest pain and normal in Tehran city. Method: The methodology of this research ...
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Objective: Considering to significance of psychological factors in occurrence of physical pain, the current research has been conducted for the purpose of comparing mindfulness and self-regulation in women with non-cardiac chest pain and normal in Tehran city. Method: The methodology of this research was causal-comparative design. Hence, the research sample including 60 non-cardiac chest pain diagnosed women among referrals of two hospitals and cardiac clinics were selected by accessibility sampling Method and the sample of the healthy group also including: 60 women of accompanying the patients and the personnel of mentioned hospitals without any chest-pain who have certain criteria to participate in research. The subjects responded to two questionnaires including mindful attention awareness scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003) and Self-regulation scale (Ibanez & etal). Research data were analyzed by multi variables Covariance analysis test. Findings: The results of analysis demonstrated significant difference in average values of mindfulness, self-regulation and its components contain positive action, controllability, expression of feeling,assertiveness & well-being seeking between women with non-cardiac chest pain and normal (P<0/05). Conclusion: These findings showed that mindfulness and Self-regulation has relationship to non-cardiac chest pain. These results have important implications about these structures and importance of therapeutic interventions for these patents.
M.Ali Besharat; Nasrin Zamani; Alireza Moafi; Hadi Bahram ehsani
Volume 5, Issue 17 , July 2016, , Pages 7-22
Fatemeh Dehgani Arani; Mohammad Ali Beshart
Volume 3, Issue 12 , December 2015, , Pages 42-57
Abstract
Objective: Pediatric disease affects the health condition of their mothers. The present study conducted with the aim of examining the effectiveness of a mother-child attachment-based intervention on health indices in mothers of children with a chronic disease. Method: Method of the present study was ...
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Objective: Pediatric disease affects the health condition of their mothers. The present study conducted with the aim of examining the effectiveness of a mother-child attachment-based intervention on health indices in mothers of children with a chronic disease. Method: Method of the present study was experimental with a pre/post-test design. The subjects were twenty-two mothers who volunteered for this randomized controlled trial and had a child undergoing medical treatment for their chronic disease. After being evaluated by a battery of questionnaires that included Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1990) and 28-form General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28; Goldberg & Hillier, 1979) mothers were paired on the basis of health subscales scores, age, the number of family children, and the kind of their child’s disease. Each one of paired mothers was then randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. Mothers in experimental group received ten sessions of mother-child attachment-based intervention over a 5-weeks period with their children. Meanwhile, mothers and children in control group received 10 simple conversational sessions without any psychological intervention, as a dummy intervention. Both groups were evaluated again after completing their respective treatment regimens. Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed significant differences between two groups after treatment and revealed significant changes in mothers’ health indices including competency, social isolation, attachment to child, health, physical syndrome, anxiety and depression, in experimental group in pre-post-treatment stages comparison. Conclusion: It can be concluded that mother-child attachment-based intervention would improve quality of health in mothers of children with chronic disease.
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azra zebardast; mohamad ali besharat; hadi bahrami ahsan
Volume 4, Issue 15 , October 2015, , Pages 49-74
Abstract
Objective: Interpersonal problems and emotional regulation skills in studies as psychological differences of obese and overweight women has been reviewed and approved. The present study compared the efficacy between interpersonal therapy and emotional management of weight loss in obese and overweight ...
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Objective: Interpersonal problems and emotional regulation skills in studies as psychological differences of obese and overweight women has been reviewed and approved. The present study compared the efficacy between interpersonal therapy and emotional management of weight loss in obese and overweight women. Method: The method of this research is semi-experimental. 80 women with a BMI over 24/9 participated in this study. Asked subjects to complete Interpersonal Problems (IPP-127, Horovitz, et al, 1988) and emotional regulation Questioners (ERSQ-27, Berking & znoj, 2008). The two obese and overweight groups were intervened during 6 months with interpersonal relationships and emotional management. At the end of treatment, were investigated weight losses as BMI. Findings: result showed that IPT and ITEC are different on weight loss in obese and overweight women. Obese women with IPT compared obese with ITEC loss weight greater. While weight loss in overweight women with ITEC compared overweight with IPT was not significant. Conclusion: Based in the findings, we conclude that IPT and ITEC are an effective treatment for weight loss in obese and overweight women.
Mohammad Ali Besharat; Fahime Tavallaeyan
Volume 3, Issue 10 , September 2014, , Pages 4-17
Abstract
Objective: Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or transsexualism is characterized by astrong and persistent sense of inappropriateness of biological sex in givenindividuals. Understanding, preventing and treating of this psychological disorderprovides a serious challenge for clinicians. In order to better ...
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Objective: Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or transsexualism is characterized by astrong and persistent sense of inappropriateness of biological sex in givenindividuals. Understanding, preventing and treating of this psychological disorderprovides a serious challenge for clinicians. In order to better understanding ofGIDs, the aim of the present study was to compare interpersonal problemsbetween three groups including transsexuals after sex reassignment surgery(SRS), transsexuals before SRS and normal individuals.Method: Thirty five Male-to-Female (MF) transsexuals (20 transsexuals before SRS,15 transsexuals after SRS) and also twenty normal females participated in thisstudy. All participants were asked to complete the Inventory of InterpersonalProblems (IIP-60).Results: The results revealed that the higher average scores in dimensions ofinterpersonal problems belonged to transsexuals before SRS, transsexuals afterSRS and normal individuals, respectively. The difference between transsexualsafter SRS and normal individuals was not significant in interpersonal problemsscales.Conclusion: Based on these results, one can conclude that sex reassignment surgerymight reduce interpersonal problems of transsexuals.
H Shamsipour; M. A. Besharat; H Jafaryazdi; A Rajab; H Bahrami Ehsan
Volume 2, Issue 7 , November 2013, , Pages 5-20
Abstract
Objective: The main aim of this study was to examine reliability and validity of Persian version of Chronic Stress Scale (CSS) among a sample of first degree relatives of patients with type II diabetes. Method: English version of CSS was transformed into a Persian questionnaire after translation and ...
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Objective: The main aim of this study was to examine reliability and validity of Persian version of Chronic Stress Scale (CSS) among a sample of first degree relatives of patients with type II diabetes. Method: English version of CSS was transformed into a Persian questionnaire after translation and back-translation and then was used among 199 participants of the research. In order to explore test-retest reliability of CSS, 30 subjects answered the questions again, 8 to 11 weeks after first testing. Results: Internal consistency of CSS in terms of alpha coefficient was obtained 0.87. Correlation coefficients between CSS and type D personality scale, neuroticism subscale of EPQ-RS, depression subscale of DAS, and anger and hostility subscale of SCL-90-R was obtained 0.36, 0.34, 0.38, and 0.30 respectively. Test-retest reliability with 8- to 11-week distance between two testing periods was 0.73. Conclusion: Based on results of our study, Persian version of CSS has the required psychometric properties for application in psychological studies on Iranian populations at risk of chronic diseases.
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Mohammad Ali Besharat; Masomeh Darvishi Lord; Ali Zahed Mehr; Masoud Gholamali Lavasani
Volume 2, Issue 5 , June 2013, , Pages 5-22
Abstract
Aim: The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of anger on the relationship between negative affect and social inhibition with severity of coronary artery stenosis in a sample of patients with coronary artery disease. Method: Method of the present exploratory study was correlational. A total ...
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Aim: The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of anger on the relationship between negative affect and social inhibition with severity of coronary artery stenosis in a sample of patients with coronary artery disease. Method: Method of the present exploratory study was correlational. A total of 200 patients with coronary artery disease (112 men, 88 women) participated in this study. The patients were asked to complete the Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI) and Type D Personality Scale (DS14). Results: The results demonstrated that anger, negative affect, and social inhibition had a meaningful association with severity of coronary artery stenosis (p < .01). The results of path analysis also showed that the relationship between negative affect and social inhibition with severity of coronary artery stenosis is mediated by anger. Conclusion: It can be concluded that severity of coronary artery stenosis might be predicted by anger, negative affect, and social inhibition.
