Counseling and psychotherapy culture

Abstract Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of developing a conceptual model of men's authority from the perspective of wives, using a qualitative approach. The research method was conventional qualitative content analysis. The participants consisted of 20 married women who were selected through purposive sampling based on the principle of data adequacy. Data were collected via semi structured interviews and analyzed through a three stage coding process including initial coding, subcategory development, and main category identification. To enhance the trustworthiness of the findings, member check and peer check procedures were employed; accordingly, the extracted codes and main categories were presented to the participants and their feedback was incorporated. Additionally, two specialists in the field of family reviewed the coding process and confirmed the appropriateness of the codes with the interview data. The findings led to a conceptual model comprising seven main categories: strategic capability, support, education, participation, provision, effective communication, and training. The results indicated that from the wives' perspective, constructive male authority is a functional role based on responsibility, prudence, and provision, whose ultimate legitimacy depends on the wife's voluntary acceptance and empowerment. Furthermore, the gap between the man's managerial perception and the woman's emotional experience was identified as the most significant challenge in realizing this model. This model provides a native framework for understanding the dynamics of authority in contemporary families and can be utilized in designing educational, counseling, and policy making programs in the field of family.

Abstract Abstract:
The present study aimed to develop and validate a short-term integrative couple therapy protocol based on Iranian indigenous culture. By integrating psychodynamic, logotherapy, metaphor therapy, and lifestyle modification approaches—while considering the sensitivities, values, beliefs, and cultural contexts governing marital relationships in Iranian society—the protocol was designed as a ten-session intervention. A qualitative research method using thematic analysis was employed, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts in the field of couple therapy. Following the extraction of core and sub-themes and the development of the initial session structures, the content validity of the protocol was evaluated by seven experts. The results indicated a favorable Content Validity Index (CVI = 0.91), confirming the internal coherence, pedagogical adequacy, cultural appropriateness, content clarity, and clinical applicability of the session structures. Furthermore, in a preliminary study on 10 couples, the initial results of the protocol were significant and promising in reducing marital conflict (t=2.68,p=0.05t=2.68, p=0.05t=2.68,p=0.05), increasing life satisfaction (t=−2.97,p=0.01t=-2.97, p=0.01t=−2.97,p=0.01), and enhancing psychological well-being (t=1.94,p=0.05t=1.94, p=0.05t=1.94,p=0.05). The findings suggest that the developed protocol can be utilized as a localized, short-term, and practical model to improve the quality of couple therapy services in Iran. However, conducting supplementary studies with controlled experimental designs, larger sample sizes, and long-term follow-up periods is necessary to examine its sustained effectiveness.

Abstract Background and Aim: Occupational burnout among school counselors in high-pressure environments is a significant challenge affecting their mental health and counseling quality. This study aimed to explain burnout dimensions based on counselors’ lived experiences and model their coping strategies.
Method: This qualitative study used thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke’s framework). The population comprised female junior high school counselors in Isfahan (District 4). Through purposive criterion sampling (minimum 5 years experience, self-reported chronic burnout), 12 participants were selected. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews (2025) and analyzed using MAXQDA. Member checking and peer debriefing ensured validity.
Results: Analysis yielded 40 initial codes, 23 sub-themes, and 4 main themes. The themes included three burnout dimensions: “physical and psychological exhaustion”, “relational exhaustion”, and “work deterrence”; alongside one theme of “operational coping strategies” (e.g., consulting colleagues, making work meaningful).
Conclusion: Although counselors use individual-centered strategies to manage burnout, these are insufficient against chronic structural pressures (e.g., role overload). Thus, burnout is not merely an individual weakness; preventing it requires institutional interventions and supportive educational policymaking.

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to analyze and explain the causes, consequences, and coping strategies related to school staff violence in interactions with elementary school students in the city of Sanandaj. The study was conducted within a critical paradigm, employing a qualitative approach and utilizing conceptual analysis and situational assessment as an evaluative research strategy. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews using convenience sampling among teachers in Kurdistan Province. The findings emerged in four stages. In the first stage, conceptualization and explanation of violence, violence was defined as a set of overt and covert verbal, psychological, and physical actions that are reproduced within power relations and institutional norms of the school to control and coerce students. In the second stage (causes of violence), ten components were identified, including teachers’ psychological pressures, lack of communication skills, familial and social factors, generational gaps, enforcement of compliance with rules, behavioral control, exertion of power, coercion toward academic performance, and punishment for teaching discipline and responsibility. In the third stage, consequences, seven components were extracted, including increased anxiety and stress, reduced motivation and concentration, academic underachievement, fear and distrust toward school, aggressive behaviors, and physical and psychological harm. In the fourth stage strategies, training in anger management and classroom management skills, creating a supportive educational environment, strengthening home–school interaction, and employing educational counselors were proposed

Abstract The present study aimed to develop and validate an academic–career empowerment package for ninth‑grade students with an emphasis on career pathways and academic major selection. This study was conducted using a qualitative approach and the thematic analysis method. The research population consisted of all domestic scientific articles and scholarly sources published in the field of students’ academic and career guidance between 2009 and 2026. Due to the limited number of relevant sources, the research sample was considered equal to the population. The process of collecting and reviewing sources continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. The obtained data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the data analysis led to the extraction of four main themes: “academic–career self‑awareness”, including recognition of academic interests, abilities, talents, and personal values and goals; “cognitive decision‑making skills”, including awareness of academic options, processing academic information, and academic planning; “motivational and psychological resources”, including academic self‑efficacy, achievement motivation, and emotional regulation in decision‑making; and “environmental and social factors”, including the roles of family, school, peers, and socio‑economic conditions. Based on these findings, an academic–career empowerment package for students was developed using relevant theoretical foundations and practical techniques derived from counseling and psychological approaches. To examine the validity of the proposed model, the opinions of ten experts in counseling and educational psychology were obtained, and the results indicated that the developed model had acceptable validity and practical applicability. The findings suggest that strengthening individual, motivational, and environmental factors can facilitate more informed decision‑making among .

Abstract The aim of the present study was to explore adolescents’ lived experience of using generative AI and to clarify how they interact with the opportunities, dependencies, and boundaries of this technology. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach and Brown and Clarke’s reflective content analysis. Data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 14 adolescents aged 14 to 18 (9 girls and 5 boys). Recursive data analysis resulted in 50 primary codes, 18 subthemes, six main themes, and one central theme. The main themes were: “Efficiency and organization of everyday affairs,” “Mixing instrumental and human status,” “Efficiency at cognitive costs,” “Conditional trust and maintaining human authority,” “Keeping AI in its proper place,” and “A two-faceted future.” The central theme of “bounded efficient interactions” showed that adolescents are neither passive adopters of technology nor fully autonomous users; they constantly draw boundaries between speed and effort, support and substitution, intimacy and authenticity, trust and doubt, and use and resistance. AI has provided a fast, non-judgmental space for learning, decision-making, and emotional expression, but it has also raised concerns about cognitive outsourcing, reduced creativity, privacy, misinformation, epistemic and existential anxiety, and the weakening of human relationships. Accordingly, AI literacy training must go beyond technical skill to include epistemic judgment, self-regulation, data protection, recognizing the boundaries of help and substitution, and referring high-risk issues to human experts.

Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of psychological well-being in the relationship between work-family conflict and fertility motivation in private sector employees.The present study is applied in terms of its purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of its nature and method. Also, in order to examine the relationships between research variables, the structural equation modeling method was used. The statistical population of this study consisted of employees working in factories and private sector organizations in Karaj in 1404. Finally, after considering the entry and exit criteria, 369 people were selected using the convenience sampling method. The research instruments included; Carlson et al.'s Work-Family Conflict Questionnaire (2000), Nakhai and Khajeh's Influencing Motives on Childbearing Intention Questionnaire (1401),and the Riff 18-item Short Scale of Psychological Well-being (1989). The findings of the study indicated that work-family conflict had a negative and significant relationship with psychological well-being (β = -0.61, p = 0.001) and fertility motivation (β = -0.35, p = 0.001).Also, the relationship between psychological well-being and fertility motivation was direct and significant (β = 0.58, p = 0.001).In addition, this study confirmed the mediating role of psychological well-being in the relationship between work-family conflict and fertility motivation (β = -0.295, p = 0.003). Accordingly, it is hoped that, considering the results of this study, policymakers and planners in the field of family and employment will provide the basis for strengthening fertility motivation by designing supportive interventions to reduce work-family conflict and promote the psychological well-being of employees.

Abstract Maternal aggression in interactions with children is a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by individual, interpersonal, familial, and situational factors and associated with children’s mental health and family relationships. This study aimed to explore the dimensions and components of maternal aggression in interactions with children. In this qualitative study, 12 married mothers were purposively and voluntarily selected based on inclusion criteria. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews until data saturation and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Analysis identified 176 open codes and 28 axial codes, organized into 10 main components: attachment injuries, child-triggering behaviors, adverse childhood experiences, expectations and hostile attribution bias, psychological and physical stressors, deficits in emotional-behavioral skills, support networks, maternal maltreatment of the child, low child mental health, and reduced individual and family life satisfaction. These components encompassed mothers’ internal experiences and stressors, mother-child interaction characteristics, support resources, and individual and familial consequences. The findings indicated that maternal aggression cannot be attributed to a single factor or solely to children’s behavior. Rather, it emerges within a multidimensional context involving past experiences, mothers’ perceptions of children’s behavior, psychological and physical stressors, emotional-behavioral skills, social support, and family relationship quality. Considering these dimensions simultaneously may help identify factors associated with maternal aggression and inform psychological and educational interventions to improve mother-child interactions and promote healthier family functioning overall.

Abstract Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a substantive grounded theory of marital relationship stability in long-distance couples (commuter spouses), focusing on the perspective of women whose husbands were employed in maritime occupations in 2025, within the Iranian cultural context.Method: A qualitative research approach was employed, utilizing a grounded theory methodology based on the Glaserian approach. The main participants were 17 women with commuter spouses working for National Iranian Tanker Company , selected through purposive sampling. Complementary data were gathered through interviews with 10 specialists in psychology and family counseling, as well as a review of relevant domestic and international scientific literature. Data were analyzed using substantive coding(open and selective levels)and theoretical coding, following the Glaserian approach procedures. Findings: Data analysis resulted in the extraction of six main categories : "maintaining emotional bonds during separation," "networking and seeking support," "planning and future orientation," "personal growth and emotional independence," "strengthening trust and commitment in the relationship," and "flexibility and adaptation to change." Furthermore, the core category of "actively managing the spouse’s absence through the reconstruction of presence" was conceptualized, reflecting a three-dimensional process of reconstructing communicative, semantic, and supportive‒network presence. Conclusion: The findings indicated that relationship stability in long-distance couples is a multidimensional and dynamic process encompassing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and socio-spiritual strategies. These results can serve as a basis for designing pre-deployment educational and counseling programs, family-centered psychological interventions, and organizational support policies for commuter families.

Abstract War creates intense and chronic stress that makes the parenting role considerably more challenging. Among affected parents, mothers with borderline personality traits are particularly vulnerable to parental burnout due to their heightened emotional vulnerability. This highlights the need to investigate effective interventions for this population. Accordingly, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of skills training based on Dialectical Behavior Therapy in parental burnout in mothers with borderline personality traits during wartime. This was a quasi-experimental study with with a pre-test, post-test, and 3-month follow-up design, along with a control group. The sample consisted of 30 eligible mothers in Tehran in 2026, who were selected via convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 12 sessions of 90 minute dialectical behavior therapy, and the control group was on the waiting list. Data were collected using the Borderline Personality disorder Questionnaire (Leichsenring, 1999), and the Parental Burnout Questionnaire (Mikolajczak et al., 2018), and analyzed using multivariate mixed analysis of variance .The findings indicated the significance of the time effect, group effect, and their interaction on the total score of parental burnout and its dimensions in the intervention group, as well as the persistence of the intervention's effectiveness at the 3-month follow-up The present study demonstrated that DBT-skills training effectively reduced parental burnout in mothers with borderline personality traits. These findings may provide a foundation for developing supportive and psychoeducational programs and assist mental health professionals in delivering more effective interventions