Association of intimate partner violence with sociodemographic factors in married women: a population-based study in Iran

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a neglected public health issue in Iran. This study was conducted among married women residing in urban Rasht (northern Iran), to estimate the prevalence and frequency of different forms of IPV from husband and their associations with socio-demographic factors. We carried out a population-based cross-sectional survey with cluster sampling design from February to October 2015. The samples consisted of married women aged ≥ 18 years with total household in Rasht city (north Iran) as the sample frame. We administered the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2) to estimate prevalence of past-year IPV. Of 2091 women, 57.1% had suffered psychological aggression, 27.6% physical abuse, 26.6% sexual abuse, and 6.9% injury. A significant association with IPV was found for women with, age ≤ 40 years, unemployed, low education, husband’s addiction and rented-householders. Women who experienced physical abuse, had less age at marriage than women without violence. Also women with sexual coercion had less length of marriage than other non-abused women. On logistic regression, the strongest predictor of psychological, physical and sexual abuse was unemployment of spouse, whereas for injury it was low educational level (<12 years) of women. Our findings suggest that risk of IPV is high in our population. There is an obvious need of preventive and treatment activities. Our findings point at that various forms of abuse are different from each other in terms of differing characteristics of the perpetrators and it might be that also different strategies are needed to reduce and prevent these violence. Confirmation by further research is needed.     

The Impact of PREP Training on Marital Conflicts Reduction: A Randomized Controlled Trial With Iranian Distressed Couples

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Prevention and Relationship Education Program (PREP) training on marital conflict and marital satisfaction among a sample of distressed couples in Iran. The research procedure was experimental with a pretest, posttest, and follow-up design, including a control group. The sample included 76 volunteer couples among a sample of distressed couples who were randomly selected and assigned to the experimental or control group. They completed demographic questions, the Marital Conflicts questionnaire, and a revised Marital Satisfaction Inventory in pretest, posttest and at the 1-year follow-up. Results showed that PREP training effectively led to decreased marital conflict and improvement of marital satisfaction of couples at posttest and at the 1-year follow-up. The result of covariance analysis showed significant differences between the experimental and the control groups' marital conflict and marital satisfaction at posttest and at the 1-year follow-up.     

Bilingualism and reading difficulties: an exploration in episodic and semantic memory

This study was designed to investigate the effect of bilingualism and reading difficulties (RD) on episodic and semantic memory. The subjects included 190 children (aged 9–12 years): 45 Iranian-Swedish bilinguals and 59 Swedish monolinguals with typically developed reading, along with 41 bilinguals and 45 monolinguals with RD. To measure episodic memory, subject-performed and verbal tasks were used for encoding, and both free and cued recall were used for retrieval. Letter and category fluency tasks were used to test semantic memory. In action memory, bilingual children with RD benefited less from enactment encoding form compared to children with typically developed reading. Additionally, bilingual with RD had lower rates of recollection in category fluency compared to their monolingual counterparts. However, in letter fluency, there was not found a difference between performances of bilinguals and monolinguals with RD. We discuss the involvement of long-term memory in both bilingualism and reading.     

Acceptance and commitment therapy versus tinnitus retraining therapy in the treatment of tinnitus: a randomised controlled trial

The study compared the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) on tinnitus impact in a randomised controlled trial. Sixty-four normal hearing subjects with tinnitus were randomised to one of the active treatments or a wait-list control (WLC). The ACT treatment consisted of 10 weekly 60 min sessions. The TRT treatment consisted of one 150 min session, one 30 min follow-up and continued daily use of wearable sound generators for a recommended period of at least 8 h/day for 18 months. Assessments were made at baseline, 10 weeks, 6 months and 18 months. At 10 weeks, results showed a superior effect of ACT in comparison with the WLC regarding tinnitus impact (Cohen’s d = 1.04), problems with sleep and anxiety. The results were mediated by tinnitus acceptance. A comparison between the active treatments, including all assessment points, revealed significant differences in favour of ACT regarding tinnitus impact (Cohen’s d = 0.75) and problems with sleep. At 6 months, reliable improvement on the main outcome measure was found for 54.5% in the ACT condition and 20% in the TRT condition. The results suggest that ACT can reduce tinnitus distress and impact in a group of normal hearing tinnitus patients.     

Spatial memory during progressive disorientation

Human spatial representations of object locations in a room-sized environment were probed for evidence that the object locations were encoded relative not just to the observer (egocentrically) but also to each other (allocentrically). Participants learned the locations of 4 objects and then were blindfolded and either (a) underwent a succession of 70 degrees and 200 degrees whole-body rotations or (b) were fully disoriented and then underwent a similar sequence of 70 degrees and 200 degrees rotations. After each rotation, participants pointed to the objects without vision. Analyses of the pointing errors suggest that as participants lost orientation, represented object directions generally "drifted" off of their true directions as an ensemble, not in random, unrelated directions. This is interpreted as evidence that object-to-object (allocentric) relationships play a large part in the human spatial updating system. However, there was also some evidence that represented object directions occasionally drifted off of their true directions independently of one another, suggesting a lack of allocentric influence. Implications regarding the interplay of egocentric and allocentric information are considered.     

Genetic Counseling in Southern Iran: Consanguinity and Reason for Referral

Population based genetic counseling that promotes public health goals is an appropriate health care service. The genetic counseling center in Shiraz, southern Iran serves most of the clients in the region. During a 4-year period, 2,686 couples presented for genetic counseling. Data files revealed that 85% had consanguineous relationships (1.5% double first cousin, 74% first cousin, 8% second cousin, 1.5% beyond second cousin). Most prevalent reasons for referral were premarital counseling (80%), with 89% consanguinity, followed by preconception (12%), postnatal (7%), and prenatal counseling (1%). The most common abnormalities in probands or relatives were intellectual and developmental disabilities, hearing loss/impairment, and neuromuscular dystrophies. Family history of medical problem(s) and/or consanguinity was the main indication for referral in nearly every family. Premarital consanguinity poses unique challenges and opportunities. There is considerable opportunity for genetic counseling and education for couples in this population. The tradition of consanguinity, which is likely to persist in Iran, requires multidisciplinary agreement regarding the appropriate process of genetic counseling. Effective genetic counseling in Iran hinges on inclusion of data from genetic counseling services in national genomic and epidemiologic research programs.     

Service Needs of Immigrants and Refugees

This paper evaluates the service needs of immigrants and refugees, paying special attention to their entry status, social, and human capital. Analyses are based on administrative data consisting of 2915 clients collected by the YMCA of Western Ontario, Windsor-Essex Branch (YMO). Results reveal that immigrants’ and refugees’ major service need priorities are (1) government services and language skills, (2) information about Canadian life and access to community services, (3) education and work in Canada, and (4) social and professional networks and community involvement. These service needs varied by the entry status of the immigrant as well as human and social capital. Government-assisted and sponsored refugees identified more service needs than economic immigrants relating to Canadian life, language and skill training, and social networks. Sponsored refugees also identified more needs than the economic immigrants with respect to access to community services and work. Convention refugees’ higher service needs over economic immigrants were related to language training and access to community services. Finally, the service needs of clients with higher education, English proficiency, and ethnic networks were lower than those of their counterparts.