Background: Self-determination skills enable to support an individual's needs and make decisions to function independently. Improvement of self-determination skills has had a positive result for adolescents at risk of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of occupational therapy interventions on the self-determination skills of adolescent girls at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders.Methods: In this single-blind control trial study, 14-16-years-old girl students (n=54) at risk of EBD were recruited by cluster sampling from secondary high schools of Tehran, Iran. Youth self-report Questionnaire (YSR) was used to include adolescents at risk of EBD in the study and were randomized into the intervention (n=27) and control group (n=27) by block randomization. The Student Self-Determination Scale (SDSS) and the Self-determination Parent Perception Scale (SDPPS) were used to collect data. Students in the intervention group participated in 8 -once a week-sessions of occupational therapy and the control group received no training. Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA), Bonferroni test and SPSS 16.0 version. The significance level was set at 0.05.Results: The score of self-determinations (SDSS) increased significantly in the intervention group after the intervention (p<0.001). Although the mean scores of self-determination at follow-up have increased in the intervention group compared to the post-test. No significant differences were found (p>0.05); also, the score of parents' perception of student self-determination (SDPPS) increased but there were not significantly different (p=0.064). Conclusion:The findings indicated self-determination skills could be taught to adolescents at risk of EBD in OT sessions. Since selfdetermination has been identified as the necessary skills for adolescents at-risk to transition into adulthood, occupational therapists have an important role in promoting self-determination skills in adolescents at risk of EBD.

Objective Self-determination is the ability of recognizing, setting and achieving goals based on knowledge and self-assessment. This ability is essential for the healthy development of adolescents. Self-determination is influenced by knowledge, skills, beliefs, and contextual factors that exist in one's living environment. Since it is an essential element for having a successful life, its assessment and related skills are also important; however, there is no assessment tool for its measurement in Iranian population. The aim of this study was to translate the Self-Determination Student Scale (SSDS) into Persian and determine its psychometric properties including face, content, and construct validity as well as internal consistency and test-retest reliability in adolescents aged 14-18 years. Materials & MethodsIn this methodological study, the SSDS was translated into Persian to be used on Iranian population and validated according to the International Quality of Life Assessment (IQOLA) protocol. Samples were 498 high school students (mean age = 15.15±0.9; 227 females and 221 males) who were selected using convenience sampling technique with maximum diversity in Tehran. They were divided into two groups of with and without emotional/behavioral symptoms using the Youth Self-Report tool. The face validity of the translated SSDS was determined based on the opinions of samples and experts. The Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) were also calculated for each items of the translated version. The construct validity was tested by comparing known groups (gender groups and groups at risk of emotional/behavioral disorders). Moreover, its internal consistency was estimated by Kuder-Richardson formula, and test-retest reliability was tested using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) on 16 students with a time interval of 14 days. Results In the Persian version of SDSS, 4 items were removed from the original version. After confirmation of its face validity after modification, it was found that its items had appropriate content validity based on CVI and CVR scores. The mean of self-determination score under all subscales and most of items was significant between the gender group and the group at risk of emotional/behavioral disorders (P< 0.001). The Kuder-Richardson coefficient was obtained 0.89 and for five subscales, it was in a range of 0.51 to 0.72. The ICC (0.98; 95% CI:0.95 to 0.98) approved the good reliability of the instrument. Conclusion The Persian version of SDSS had good validity (face, content, and construct) and reliability after testing it on the high school students. Therefore, it can be used in clinical and research studies to assess the self-determination of students. Considering the importance of self-definition in adolescence, there is a need for further studies using the SDSS to highlight the potential problems of high school students in self-determination and designing related training programs.

Self-determination is a significant skill in the proper transition from adolescence to adulthood. Parents play an important role in assessing the self-determination of their children. Currently, there is no valid instrument in Iran to assess parents' views about the self-determination of their adolescents. The present study was conducted to determine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Self-determination Parent Perception Scale (SDPPS) in an Iranian population. Methods: In this descriptive psychometric study, the original version of SDPPS was translated using the forward-backward method. The content validity index and content validity ratio of the questionnaire were confirmed by a panel of 15 experts, and its face validity was evaluated among 10 parents of the adolescents. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on 125 parents of adolescents (aged 14-18 years) who were selected by convenience sampling with maximum variation. Its reliability and internal consistency were also assessed using test-retest and in a group of 17 parents, respectively. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS V. 18. Results: The items were modified at the face validity stage and approved at the content validity stage. Five factors by explaining 54.14% of the variance and deleting four items were confirmed at the construct validity stage using exploratory factor analysis. A Cronbach's alpha of 0.93 was obtained for the total scale and 0.79 to 0.85 for the five subscales of the SDPPS. The intra-class correlation coefficient with 95% CI (0.82-0.98) was 0.83 indicating good reliability of the questionnaire. Discussion: The Persian version of SDPPS showed acceptable validity and reliability in explaining the self-determination of adolescents with and without disabilities based on the parents' perspectives and can be applied by professionals in rehabilitation centers and those studying on human behavior.

Background: Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have lower academic efficiency than students with other disabilities and exhibit high levels of problematic behaviors and low levels of social functioning. This research aims to investigate the impact of self-determination activities on communication skills and scholastic achievement of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders. Methods: The study was conducted through a randomized controlled trial during the academic year 2018-2019. The samples included 54 female students (14 to 16 years) at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders from secondary schools in Tehran, Iran. The sampling was conducted through a random cluster method. The applied tools encompass Youth Self-report and Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills. Academic success was measured by students' grade point average (GPA) in two terms. The intervention was held in 8 sessions of 90 minutes, once a week, after the first term of academic of students for the intervention group and the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. The data were analyzed by SPSS-22, MANCOVA, T-test, and Chi-Square tests. Results: The results of the multivariate analysis of covariance analysis showed self-determination has an impact on communication skills (physicality, information exchange and relations) of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders ( p <0.05). Comparing the difference between the averages of the two students' means, it was found that there was a significant difference in the two groups after the intervention ( p <0.001). Also, after the intervention, there was no significant difference between the two groups but the GPA of students in the intervention group increased from 13.19 to 15.61. Conclusion: The findings suggested self-determination is effective for academic success and communication skills of students at risk of emotional-behavioral disorders and can be used in educational programs for these students.

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