Introduction: Deep physical and psychological changes in pregnancy can affect women's sexual relations. This study aims to investigate the effect of psychological counseling on PROBLEM-SOLVING skills on sexual dysfunction and satisfaction of pregnant women. Methods: In a pre-test-post-test intervention study, 70 pregnant volunteers meeting the inclusion criteria, referring to health centers in Arak City, and with sexual function and sexual satisfaction questionnaire scores of less than 28 and 42, respectively, were randomly assigned to two intervention groups of 35 and a control group. The intervention group received six counseling sessions based on PROBLEM-SOLVING, and both groups received routine care. Rosen's sexual performance questionnaire and Larson's sexual satisfaction questionnaire were answered by both groups before, immediately, and one month after the intervention. Data analysis was done using Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and Repeated measure tests. Results: The repeated measure design test showed that immediately and one month after the intervention, the average sexual performance (26.82 ± 1.61 and 28.88 ± 1.1) and sexual satisfaction (39.22 ± 2.27 and 15.15) (43.19 ± 2) compared to the control group (23.69±1.97, 22.63±2.08) (36.23±2.44, 35.06±2.46) compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study showed that counseling based on PROBLEM-SOLVING improves the performance and sexual satisfaction of pregnant women effectively and can be included in educational protocols during pregnancy to improve the quality of sexual life.

This article first probes the relationship between general/utopian and specific/reformist approaches to social PROBLEM SOLVING to endorse the paradigmatic shift from the former to the latter. It then presents the Popperian 3 world theory and augments it with the views of Lacatos to highlight the effective role of rival research programs and cross-criticism in social PROBLEM SOLVING and the advancement of science. Finally, based on these theoretical formulations, the article critiques PROBLEM SOLVING approaches within the Iranian academic structure. PROBLEM SOLVING, science, 3 worlds, general to specific, research program, academia, objective knowledge, criticism, Iran.

Introduction: Rumination is one of the factors which can significantly impact the mental health and life quality of the elderly. Thus, this study examined the effectiveness of cognitive PROBLEM-SOLVING strategies on rumination among elderly men in the province of Kermanshah, Iran. Method: The study adopted a quasi-experimental method with pre-test, post-test, and control/experimental groups design. The statistical population included the entire elderly men attending Mah psychology clinic where they reported suffering from rumination. The results of psychological tests also confirmed their declarations. The participants constituted 24 men with the age range of 60 to 65. They were selected through the convenience sampling method and the study criteria and randomly assigned to one control group (n= 12) and one experimental group (n= 12). Initially, a pre-test was administered to both groups. Moreover, the experimental group underwent eight 45-minute sessions of training cognitive PROBLEM-SOLVING strategies. To measure rumination, the Ruminative Response Scale developed by Nolen-Hoeksema and Morrow (1991) was employed. The data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), the results of which suggested a significant difference between the rumination mean scores of the two groups in the post-test. This implies that the intervention of cognitive PROBLEM-SOLVING strategies led to a significant reduction in rumination up to 35 percent. Results: In light of the results, the instruction of cognitive PROBLEM-SOLVING strategies can considerably reduce rumination thereby increasing the feeling of life satisfaction. Conclusion: This approach may be fruitful in terms of reducing rumination and promoting life quality among the elderly.

We present a modification of three existing methods for finding a basic feasible solution for capacitated transportation PROBLEM. To obtain an optimal solution, eht simplex algorithm for bounded variables is applied. Special properties of transportation PROBLEM help us to operate each step of simplex algorithm directly on the transportation tableau. At last, numerical examples are represented to illustrate our method.