Thursday, 24.08.2016, 9:00am
Religiosity enhancement in adolescents: Using life skills training
Abstract
A large amount of individual’s religious tendency and spiritual development including positive thinking capacity occurs during the adolescence. Study of religiosity and spiritual development among individuals especially teenagers has gained momentum in the last few years. Therefore, a valid and reliable instrument to measure religiosity among adolescents was constructed. After the development of the questionnaire and standardization process, the outcome was a Religiosity Scale for Iranian Adolescents the last version of which includes 36 items. Since it is crucial to address the issue of life skills and teaching correct coping strategies to teenage students in order to prepare them for facing life issues and making responsible and mindful choices, a training package was developed regarding religious positive thinking education of adolescents using Positive Thinking Life Skills Package. According to the present research results, teaching positive thinking skills using this educational package increased adolescents’ religiosity and positive thinking.
Dr. Mohammad Khodayarifard is a professor of Clinical Child Psychology and also the Dean of the Faculty of the Psychology and Educationa at the University of Tehran. His main research interests focus on psychology of religion, positive psychology and psychotherapy. He is now a board member of The World Council for Psychotherapy. His honors and awards include an award that honors his exceptional contribution to mental health promotion & prevention of mental disorders (Moscow, 2016). Best Research from Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in 1999 and 2006, Best Article at the 1st International Congress on Religion and Mental Health in 2001, Excellent Applied Research Design at the 10th Festival on Research in University of Tehran in 2009 and 2010, Outstanding Professor in the 2nd International Congress of the recent research outcomes in medical sciences in 2011, Outstanding Researcher at the 22nd and 23rd Research Festival of the University of Tehran in 2013 and 2014. He is the main author and colleague of more than 90 published scientific articles. He has also authored or translated 16 books. He has presented over 60 papers and workshops in Iranian and international conferences. At the present, he is engaged in both academic and therapeutic activities. For more information regarding Dr. Khodayarifard’s academic, research and carrier history please visit his personal website at the following link: http://psyedu.ut.ac.ir/acstaff/khodayarifard