Azlina Mohd. Kosnin

Mothers' depression and stress, severity of autism among children and family income

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between mothers’ depression and stress compared with severity of autism in children and the effect of family income on the relationship between these two latter variables. Levels of depression and stress among mothers (n=250) were measured based on Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale of 42 items (DASS¬-42). The severity of autism among children was assessed by Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) according to children’s teachers reports (n=250). Family income was recorded based on mothers’ report and it was investigated as a mediator for the relationship between mothers’ depression-stress and severity of autism among children. Results showed that different incomes of mothers have significant effect on the level of depression and stress among mothers and the severity of autism; besides, results indicated that severity of autism in children changes with family income and mothers’ depression and stress-severity.

Prevalence of Depression among Undergraduate Students: Gender and Age Differences

Depressive disorders are the most typical disease affecting many different factors of humanity. University students may be at increased risk of depression owing to the pressure and stress they encounter. Therefore, the purpose of this study is comparing the level of depression among male and female athletes and non-athletes undergraduate student of private university in Esfahan, Iran. The participants in this research are composed of 400 male and female athletes as well as no-athletes Iranian undergraduate students. The Beck depression test (BDI) was employed to measure the degree of depression. T-test was used to evaluate the distinction between athletes and non-athletes at P≤0.05. The ANOVA was conducted to examine whether there was a relationship between level of depression among non-athletes and athletes. The result showed that the prevalence rate of depression among non-athlete male undergraduate students is significantly higher than that of athlete male students. The results also presented that level of depression among female students is much more frequent compared to males. This can be due to the fatigue and lack of energy that are more frequent among female in comparison to the male students. Physical activity was negatively related to the level of depression by severity among male and female undergraduate students. However, there is no distinct relationship between physical activity and level of depression according to the age of athlete and non-athlete male and female undergraduate students. This study has essential implications for clinical psychology due to the relationship between physical activity and prevalence of depression.

Irrational Beliefs as Mediator in the Relationship Between Activating Event and Stress in Malaysian Fully Residential School Teachers

Teacher stress has been a major concern among researchers as it has negative impact on teaching profesion. This study aimed to test the mediating effect of irrational beliefs on the relationship between activating event as the independent variable and stress as the dependent variable. Data were collected from a sample of 201 teachers from seven Malaysian Fully Residential School (FRS) in the Johor state by using stratified random sampling. The Teacher Irrational Beliefs (TIB), Teacher Activating Event (TAE), and Teacher Stress (TRS) questionnaires were employed to measure irrational beliefs, activating events, and stress of teachers. The Pearson coefficient correlation was used to determine the relationships among variables and multiple regression analysis was used to verify the presence of mediation effects. In general, the correlation results showed that there were positive relationships among variables. The findings of regression analysis indicated that irrational beliefs mediate the relationship between activating event and stress among FRS teachers. This findings highlighted the teachers’ irrational beliefs as the major determinants of emotional problems rather than activating event itself which comply with the ABC Model based on Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) approach.

The effectiveness of teaching and learning module to enhance preschool children's emotional intelligence

Socio-emotional development is among the main pillars in preschool curriculum and emotional intelligence is a main element in this aspect of development. A preliminary study conducted by the researchers found that preschool teachers in Malaysia are having problems teaching the socio-emotional components due to the lack of specific teaching tools, guidance and structure in teaching this important element. In this study, a teaching module was developed to help preschool teachers in pedagogy of emotional intelligence (EI) to enhance the preѕchool chіldren’ѕ EІ іn Malayѕіa. Thіѕ module waѕ developed baѕed on Gagne Іnformatіon Proceѕѕіng Theory, Bandura’ѕ Socіal Learnіng Theory and The Zone of Proxіmal Development (ZPD) Theory by Vygotѕky. The module includes ten topics which cover all elements of EI: indentifying emotion, understanding emotion, controlling emotion and using emotion. Activities were designed for each of these elements and inservice teachers were the ones who taught the children using the module. The effectiveness of this module was examined through an experimental study involving 100 preschool children who were assigned into either experimental group or control group. Preschool childrens EI was measured by adapting Sullivan Emotional Intelligence Scale for Children (EISC) for Malaysian preschoolers. The reliability of the adapted scale was tested using Rarsh model and item reliability of 0.94 and person reliability of 0.93 was found. Pretest and post-test measurements were taken and paired samples t-tests were used to compare emotional intelligence scores for both experimental group and control group. Results show significant increase of emotional intelligence in the experimental group but not for the control group even when one of the components of emotional intelligence was lower for the experimental group in the pretest. These findings suggest that the module can be a useful tool for preschool teachers to help develop preschool children’s emotional іntellіgence.

Mixed-Methods Case Study of Parent Involvement in the Special Education Schools of Isfahan City, Iran

The aim of the present study was to investigate parental involvement of students with severe disabilities in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process and their communication with school staff. This study uses an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, where fifty-two parents of children ranged in age from 7 to 15 years old provided data regarding their involvement in IEP process and communication with school staff in a questionnaire. A face-to-face interview was also performed with 26 parents of children with severe disabilities which study in special education schools in the Isfahan, Iran. The study composed of two main themes related to the parent involvement and communication with school. The result demonstrated that most of the parents mentioned that they are completely involved in the IEP process and high degree of involvement was observed for children 7 to 10 years old. It should be mentioned that most of issues is related to the information sharing, questions and concerns. In addition, it was revealed that the most communication occurred between parents and general/special education teacher, parents and consoler/school psychologist on a regular basis. However, less amount of the communication occurred between parents and principal.