The Effectiveness of Life Skills Intervention on Quality of Life of Women Headed-Household

Subject Areas : Quarterly Journal of Woman and Society

Yasser Rezapour Mirsaleh ¹ (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Ardakan University:)
Mohse Fallah ² (Master of Science in General Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Yazd Branch)
Mostafa Saberi ³ (Master of Science in Clinical Psychology, Allame Tabatabaee University)

Received: 2016-06-27 Accepted : 2016-06-27 Published : 2016-03-20

Keywords: Quality of life, life skills, Women Headed-Household,

Abstract :

Women who are headed-household are in exposure of various psychological and social risk factors which influence their quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to investigate effect of Life Skills Intervention on quality of life of women headed-household and supported by Meybod welfare organization. This study was a semi experimental study with pretest posttest design and included control and study groups. The population of this study included all of women Headed-Household and supported by Meybod welfare organization. Between them, 30 women were selected by purposive sampling and randomly assigned in experimental and control group (15 subjects in each group). In experimental group, participants received 12 weekly 2 hour session life skills teachings and control group received no intervention. World health organization quality of life scale (WHOQoL) was completed by all the participants before and after the treatment program. Finally, data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test. The results show that life skills teachings have a significant effectiveness in improvement of quality of life of experimental group participants. Also, four subscales of quality of life significantly improved. These results indicate that for improvement of quality of life of Women Headed-Household, life skills interventions should  used.

References:

 Aghajanian, A., & Thompson, V. (2013). Female headed households in Iran (1976–2006). Marriage & Family Review, 49(2), 115-134.

Akinsola, H. A., & Popovich, J. M. (2002). The quality of life of families of female-headed households in Botswana: A secondary analysis of case studies. Health care for women international, 23(6-7), 761-772.

Amtaeh, F., & Asadi, J. (2015). The Effectiveness of Training Life Skills on Life Satisfaction of Women Heads of Household Sponsored by Welfare Organization. International Journal of Basic Sciences & Applied Research, 4, 16-18.

Baker, M., Rudd, R., & Pomeroy, C. (2001). Relationships between critical and creative thinking. Journal of Southern Agricultural Education Research, 51(1), 173-188.

Baker, R., & Lupton, M. (2012, November). Encouraging critical thinking in a combined Arts and Science course on the relationship between people and the environment. In Proceedings of The Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education (formerly UniServe Science Conference) (Vol. 9).

Bögels, S. M., Rijsemus, W., & De Jong, P. J. (2002). Self-focused attention and social anxiety: The effects of experimentally heightened self-awareness on fear, blushing, cognitions, and social skills. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26(4), 461-472.

Boldaji, L. T., Foruzan, A., Rafiey, H. (2011). Quality of Life of Head-of-Household Women: a Comparison between those Supported by Welfare Organization and those with Service Jobs. Social Welfare. 11 (40), 9-28.

Botvin, G. J., & Griffin, K. W. (2004). Life skills training: Empirical findings and future directions. Journal of Primary Prevention, 25(2), 211-232.

Boyd, B. L., Herring, D. R., & Briers, G. E. (1992). Developing life skills in youth. Leadership, 4(38), 6-80.

Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 56(2), 267-283.

Cox, J., Loughran, M. J., Adams, E. M., & Navarro, R. L. (2012). Life satisfaction and health related quality of life among low-income medical patients: The mediating influence of self-esteem. Psychology, health & medicine, 17(6), 652-658.

Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 44(1), 113-126.

Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social indicators research, 40(1-2), 189-216.

Elias, M. J., & Kress, J. S. (1994). Social Decision‐Making and Life Skills Development: A Critical Thinking Approach to Health Promotion in the Middle School. Journal of School Health, 64(2), 62-66.

Evans, D. R., Pellizzari, J. R., Culbert, B. J., & Metzen, M. E. (1993). Personality, marital and occupational factors associated with quality of life. Journal of clinical psychology, 49(4), 477-485.

Facione, P. A. (2000). The disposition toward critical thinking: Its character, measurement, and relationship to critical thinking skill. Informal logic, 20(1), 61-84.

Faramarzi, S., Homaie, R., Izadi, R. (2011). Efficacy of cognitive behavioral group training of life skills on mental health of women with handicapped spouses. Social Welfare. 11 (40), 217-235. (Persian)

Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of health and social behavior, 21(3), 219-239.

Guillemin, F., Bombardier, C., & Beaton, D. (1993). Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 46(12), 1417-1432.

Hakansson, J., & Montgomery, H. (2003). Empathy as an interpersonal phenomenon. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20(3), 267-284.

Hennessey, B. A. (1995). Social, environmental, and developmental issues and creativity. Educational Psychology Review, 7(2), 163-183.

Hernández, R. L., Aranda, B. E., & Ramírez, M. T. G. (2009). Depression and quality of life for women in single-parent and nuclear families. The Spanish journal of psychology, 12(01), 171-183.

Hong, E., & Milgram, R. M. (2010). Creative thinking ability: Domain generality and specificity. Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 272-287.

Jack, K. (2008). Exploring self-awareness in mental health practice. Mental Health Practice, 12(3).31-35.

Jafari Shirazi, F. (2012). Studying the Impact of life Skills Training on Raising the General Efficacy of Women Heads of Household in Tehran Municipality in 2010-2011. Women Research, 6, 47-70. (Persian)

Janowski, K., Kurpas, D., Kusz, J., Mroczek, B., & Jedynak, T. (2014). Emotional Control, Styles of Coping with Stress and Acceptance of Illness among Patients Suffering from Chronic Somatic Diseases. Stress and Health, 30(1), 34-42.

Karimlou, M., Salehi, M., Zayeri, F., Massah-Choulabi, O., Hatami, A., Moosavy-Khattat, M. (2011). Developing the Persian Version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-100 Questionnaire. Rehabilitation Journal, 11 (4), 73-82. (Persian)

Krycak, R. C., Murdock, N. L., & Marszalek, J. M. (2012). Differentiation of self, stress, and emotional support as predictors of psychological distress. Contemporary Family Therapy, 34(4), 495-515.

Kuhn, D. (1999). A developmental model of critical thinking. Educational researcher, 28(2), 16-46.

Lafta, R. K., Hayawi, A. H., & Khudhairi, J. M. (2012). Medical and social problems among women headed families in Baghdad. Qatar medical journal, 2012(2), 51-58.

Lazarus, R. S. (1993). Coping theory and research: past, present, and future. Psychosomatic medicine, 55(3), 234-247.

Marsiske, M., & Margrett, J. A. (2006). Everyday problem solving and decision making. Handbook of the psychology of aging, 6, 315-342.

McDaniel, T. M., & Rutström, E. E. (2001). Decision making costs and problem solving performance. Experimental Economics, 4(2), 145-161.

Meyer, M. H., & Abdul-Malak, Y. (2015). Single-Headed Family Economic Vulnerability and Reliance on Social Programs. Public Policy & Aging Report, 25(3), 102-106.

Mumford, M. D., Medeiros, K. E., & Partlow, P. J. (2012). Creative thinking: Processes, strategies, and knowledge. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 46(1), 30-47.

Nadler, A. (1983). Objective self-awareness, self-esteem and causal attributions for success and failure. Personality and Individual Differences, 4(1), 9-15.

Nazoktabar, H., Veicy, R. (2008). Socio-Economic and Cultural Condition of Women-Headed Households in Mazandaran Province. Social Welfare, 7 (27), 95-114. (Persian)

Nejat, S., Montazeri, A., Holakouie Naieni, K., Mohammad, K., Majdzadeh, S. (2006). The World Health Organization quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire: Translation and validation study of the Iranian version. Journal of Child Psychological Development, 4 (4), 1-12. (Persian)

Nussbaum, M., & Sen, A. (1993). The quality of life. London: Oxford University Press.

Ownsworth, T. L., McFarland, K., & Young, R. M. (2002). The investigation of factors underlying deficits in self-awareness and self-regulation. Brain Injury, 16(4), 291-309.

Paro, H. B., Silveira, P. S., Perotta, B., Gannam, S., Enns, S. C., Giaxa, R. R., & Tempski, P. Z. (2014). Empathy among medical students: is there a relation with quality of life and burnout?. PloS one, 9(4), 1-10.

Paul, R. W., & Binker, A. J. A. (1990). Critical thinking: What every person needs to survive in a rapidly changing world. Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA 94928.

Rice, K. G., & Lapsley, D. K. (2001). Perfectionism, coping, and emotional adjustment. Journal of College Student Development, 42(2), 157-168.

Rimaz, S., Dastoorpoor, M., Vesali Azar Shorbeyani, S., Saiepour, N., Beigi, Z., Nedjat, S. (2014). The Survey of Quality of Life and its Related Factors in Female-headed Households Supported by Tehran Municipality, Ddistrict 9. Journal of Child Psychological Development, 10 (2), 48-55. (Persian)

Rochat, P. (2003). Five levels of self-awareness as they unfold early in life. Consciousness and cognition, 12(4), 717-731.

Skevington, S. M., Lotfy, M., & O'Connell, K. A. (2004). The World Health Organization's WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment: psychometric properties and results of the international field trial. A report from the WHOQOL group. Quality of life Research, 13(2), 299-310.

Shabanzadeh, A., Bahram Abadi, M. Z., Hatami, H., & Zahrakar, K. (2013). A study of the relationship between stress coping styles and social support, and quality of life of women heads of households in Tehran. Journal of Woman and Society, 4(4), 1-20. (Persian)

Stern, M., Mazzeo, S. E., Gerke, C. K., Porter, J. S., Bean, M. K., & Laver, J. H. (2007). Gender, ethnicity, psychosocial factors, and quality of life among severely overweight, treatment-seeking adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32(1), 90-94.

Taylor, S. E. (1983). Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation. American psychologist, 38(11), 1161-1173.

Thornton, W. J., & Dumke, H. A. (2005). Age differences in everyday problem-solving and decision-making effectiveness: a meta-analytic review. Psychology and aging, 20(1), 85-99.

Travis, F., Arenander, A., & DuBois, D. (2004). Psychological and physiological characteristics of a proposed object-referral/self-referral continuum of self-awareness. Consciousness and cognition, 13(2), 401-420.

Uchino, B. N. (2006). Social support and health: a review of physiological processes potentially underlying links to disease outcomes. Journal of behavioral medicine, 29(4), 377-387.

Whittington, B. (2009). Life skills for single-parent women: A program note. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 5(2), 103-109.

WHOQoL Group. (1998). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological medicine, 28(03), 551-558.

World Health Organization (1997). WHOQOL: Measuring Quality of Life. Available 2 January 2016 at: www.who.int/mental_health/media/68.pdf

Wrosch, C., & Scheier, M. F. (2003). Personality and quality of life: The importance of optimism and goal adjustment. Quality of life Research, 12(1), 59-72.

Xu, P., & Wang, T. (2007, August). Emotion in decision making under uncertainty and cognitive control: A computational framework. In Natural Computation, 2007. ICNC 2007. Third International Conference on (Vol. 2, pp. 149-154). IEEE.