Background: Marital disturbance widely impact the quality of marriage in couples. Besides, the lack of communication skills among couples is considered as one of the most significant personal factors influencing marriage distress. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the impact of communication skills training on marital disturbance. Methods: In this interventional study, the target population was all couples residing in the marginal regions of Birjand City, in 2016. Sixty couples (N=120) were randomly selected and assigned into two groups of intervention (30 couples) and control (30 couples). The data collection instrument consisted of two sections of private information and the Pines couple burnout measure. Results: Educational intervention was conducted for the intervention group in six sessions of 120 minutes. The questionnaire was completed before and three months after the intervention, in both groups. Then, the obtained data were analyzed using the chi-squared test, independent t-test, and paired t-test, considering the significant level of 0.05, in SPSS V. 18. The Mean±SD age was 32.27±6.24 years and 34.85±5.74 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Also, the Mean±SD marriage life of couples was 7.33±5.29 years and 9.57±5.73 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Conclusion: The mean of marital disturbance modifications, marital distress, and physical and emotional loss significantly differed between the intervention and control groups (P<0.05). Communication skills training can significantly reduce marital distress and its dimensions, including physical, emotional, and mental retardation, in couples living in the suburb.

Background: Couple burnout has an undesirable effect on marital quality. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine couple burn out and its related factors among couples referring to comprehensive health services centers in marginalized rural areas of Birjand during 2016. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 200 couples (400 persons) referring to comprehensive health services centers in marginalized rural areas of Birjand were randomly selected as research population during 2016. The data were collected using a two-part questionnaire with personal information and the Pines Couple Burnout Measure (CBM). Data analysis was done in SPSS software (version18) through ANOVA and independent t-test. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean score of total couple burnout was 57.04 ± 17.86 (range: 21-115). The highest percentage of couple burnout was related to grade 2 or couple burnout line (46.5%). There was a significant difference between the scores of couple burnout and gender, age, number of children, duration of marital life and couples' residency in a same place (P<0.05). There was no significant statistical relationship between the mean scores of couple burnout and other related factors (P>0.05). Conclusions: With regard to the high rate of couple burnout among couples referring to comprehensive health services centers in marginalized rural areas of Birjand, it is necessary to conduct training sessions in terms of couple burnout and counseling for at-risk couples.

Background Creating an environment for emotional and social well-being is an important responsibility of Health-Promoting and Child-Friendly Schools. Thus, the present study aimed to assess cultural adaptation and validation of the Persian version of the Psycho-Social Environment (PSE) Profile. The second purpose of this study was to survey the psycho-social environment of schools among a local sample of Iranian school staff. Methods This study was conducted in two phases, including cultural adaptation and validation of a culturally adapted scale. The cultural adaptation process followed the procedure suggested by Beaton et al. Then, the culturally adapted scale was administered to a local sample of Iranian school staff including managers (21.9%), teachers (57.4%), support staff (4%), and other school staff (16.7%) in a cross-sectional study. The participants’ mean age was 39.98 ± 8.11 years and they were mostly female (62.8%). The psychometric properties of the culturally adapted version of the questionnaire were tested using a confirmatory factor analysis (n = 265), and a test of internal consistency. Finally, the status of schools’ psycho-social environment was assessed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results Confirmatory factor analysis indicated an overall good fit for the 7-factor profile (χ2/df: 1.906, PNFI: 0.62, TLI: 0.78, CFI: 0.79, RMSE: 0.059). The test of internal consistency showed an acceptable reliability (α = 0. 98). Conclusions The Persian version of the PSE profile was culturally adapted for use in Iranian schools. Certainly, this culturally adapted version of PSE profile could be useful to determine the school psycho-social environment and to make any changes that can promote a friendly school climate for all participants, and to enhance learning and development.