LIBRARIANS' PARTICIPATION IN BIBLIOTHERAPY TREATMENT OF DISTRESSED STUDENTS

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1 Nosrat Riahinia * Tarbiat Moallem University Ali Azimi ** Iran University of Medical Sciences Sohrab Seify *** Elmi Karbordi University LIBRARIANS' PARTICIPATION IN BIBLIOTHERAPY TREATMENT OF DISTRESSED STUDENTS [UDZIAŁ BIBLIOTEKARZY W BIBLIOTERAPII STUDENTÓW Z ZABURZENIAMI DEPRESYJNYMI] Abstract: Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the therapeutic use of books [Jack, Ronan 2008]. It seems that librarians can share their knowledge with psychologists in bibliotherapy treatment. This paper reports a project of librarians involvement in a bibliotherapy treatment over distressed students. Two librarians under supervision of a psychologist performed bibliotherapy treatment. The population included 40 male and female distressed PhD students of the Tarbian Moallem University in Teheran. The participants were divided into three groups: bibliotherapy group who received bibliotherapy (n=13), counseling group who received counseling (n=14) and control group (n=13). The bibliotherapy results were compared with counseling results. Findings revealed that the bibliotherapy treatment was effective and major participated students were satisfied. The study results confirmed the efficacy of collaboration of librarians and psychologists in bibliotherapy treatment. BIBLIOTHERAPY BOOK COUNSELING LIBRARIANS PSYCHOLOGISTS * NOSRAT RIAHINIA, Faculty Member and Associate Dean for Research, Psychology and Education Faculty, Tarbiat Moallem University, Tehran, Iran; PhD in LiS (Delhi University). Two the most important publications: (2010) A Citation Analysis Study of MA Dissertations in the Library and Information Science Field in Universities in Tehran. Library Review, Vol. 59(1), p ; (2010) An Evaluation of Alert Services: Quantity versus Quality. Program. Electronic Library and Information Systems Vol. 44(1), p [co-authors: F. Zandian, A. Azimi, N. Poursalehi]. sara_purriahi@yahoo.com ** ALI AZIMI, School of Medical Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; MSc. Two the most important publications: (2010) Iranian Academic Library Buildings: a Study of Library Facilities And Status. Library Herald Vol. 48(1) [co-author: N. Riahinia; (2008) Women and the Web: an Evaluation of Academic Iranian Women's Use of the Internet in Tarbiat Moalem University. The Electronic Library, Vol. 26(1), p [coauthor: N. Riahinia]. azimia@gmail.com *** SOHRAB SEIFY, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences Library, Tarbiat Moallem University, Teheran; BA (Zakir Hossin College, Delhi University); student of MA IT, Elmi Karbordi Applied Sciences and Technology University, Teheran. The most important publication: (2007) Knowledge Management: a Case Study. Library Herald No. 4, sohrab350@yahoo.com [NOSRAT RIAHINIA, Prodziekan ds. Badań Naukowych Wydziału Psychologii i Pedagogiki, Tarbiat Moallem University, Tehran, Iran; doktorat z zakresu informacji naukowej i bibliotekoznawstwa (Delhi University). Dwie najważniejsze publikacje: (2010) A Citation Analysis Study of MA Dissertations in the Library and Information Science Field in Universities in Tehran [Analiza cytowań w pracach magisterskich z zakresu INiB obronionych w uniwersytetach teherańskich]. Library Review, Vol. 59(1), p ; (2010) An Evaluation of Alert Services: Quantity versus Quality [Ocena serwisów typu alert : jakość a ilość]. Program. Electronic Library and Information Systems Vol. 44(1), p [współaut.: F. Zandian, A. Azimi, N. Poursalehi]. sara_purriahi@yahoo.com] [ALI AZIMI, School of Medical Management and Information Sciences [Instytut Zarządzania w Medycynie i Nauk o Informacji], Iran University of Medical Sciences [Irański Uniwersytet Medyczny], Tehran, Iran; MSc. Dwie najważniejsze publikacje: (2010) Iranian Academic Library Buildings: a Study of Library Facilities and Status [Budynki irańskich bibliotek akademikich: badanie funkcjonalności]. Library Herald Vol. 48(1) [współaut.: N. Riahinia]; (2008) Women and the Web: an Evaluation of Academic Iranian Women's Use of the Internet in Tarbiat Moalem University [Kobiety w Sieci: ocean wykorzystania Internetu przez Irańskie kobiety na przykładzie Uniwersytetu Tarbiat Moalem]. The Electronic Library, Vol. 26(1), p [współaut.: N. Riahinia]. azimia@gmail.com] [SOHRAB SEIFY, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences Library [Biblioteka Wydziału Psychologii i Pedagogiki], Tarbiat Moallem University, Teheran; BA (Zakir Hossin College, University of Delhi); student of MA IT, Elmi Karbordi Applied Sciences and Technology University [Uniwersytet Technologiczny Elmi Karbordi], Teheran. Najważniejsza publikacja: (2007) Knowledge Management: a Case Study [Zarządzanie wiedzą: studium przypadku]. Library Herald No. 4, p sohrab350@yahoo.com] 484

2 Abstrakt: W ostatnich latach widoczny jest wzrost wykorzystania książek w celach terapeutycznych [Jack, Ronan 2008]. Wydaje się, że w procesie biblioterapeutycznym obok kompetencji psychologów przydatna może być również wiedza bibliotekarzy. W artykule przedstawiono wyniki eksperymentalnego włączenia bibliotekarzy do biblioterapii studentów cierpiących na depresję. W badaniu wzięło udział dwóch bibliotekarzy pracujących pod nadzorem psychologa. Do próby badawczej zakwalifikowano 40 słuchaczy studiów doktoranckich Uniwersytetu Tarbiat Moallem w Teheranie (kobiety i mężczyzn), którzy zostali podzieleni na trzy frakcje: grupę poddaną biblioterapii (n=13), grupę osób skierowanych na indywidualne sesje z psychologiem (n=14) oraz grupę kontrolną (n=13). Porównanie wyników biblioterapii I porad psychologicznych wykazało, że biblioterapia była skuteczna, a większość uczestniczących w niej studentów osiągnęło zadowolenie. Badanie dowiodło efektywności współpracy bibliotekarzy i psychologów w procesie biblioterapeutycznym. BIBLIOTERAPIA BIBLIOTEKARZE KSIĄŻKI PORADNICTWO PSYCHOLOGICZNE PSYCHOLODZY * * * INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Book has been used therapeutically since the early Greeks. The book is known as a therapeutic tool since the 1900s [Riahinia, Azimi, 2007]. Bibliotherapy is made up from two parts: biblíon meaning book and therapia meaning to cure and altogether means to cure by means of books. Bibliotherapy arises from the concept that the reading can affect an individual's attitude and behavior and is thus an important tool for modifying the values. Bibliotherapy can be defined in modern science as a process which facilitates personal development or problem resolution through reading of books. Both fiction and nonfiction materials are widely used by various helpers to address common developmental or situational issues (developmental bibliotherapy) as well as more serious mental health problems (clinical bibliotherapy) [McMillen 2008]. Developmental bibliotherapy is used in educational settings whereas clinical bibliotherapy works toward specific mental health goals [Pehrsson, Virginia et al. 2007]. Developmental bibliotherapy has recourse to fiction and/or nonfiction materials for treatment process, which includes identification, catharsis and development of insight. In identification one completes her/his cognitive experience through introjections and projections and reduces her/her emotional conflicts. In catharsis one finds a way to control her/his emotions and, using identification or suppression of emotions and inner thoughts, can analyze her/his problem as well. Such analysis leads to improve self-consciousness, acquire deeper selfapprehension and a better relationship with others [Riahinia, Azimi 2007]. Clinical bibliotherapy always uses self-help or guide books to improve mental and even physical effects arisen from mental or physical damages. Bibliotherapy is practiced by a variety of professions [McMillen, Pehrsson 2007]. In a review of the literature, Forrest [1998] showed that bibliotherapy is practiced foremost by psychologists (57%), followed by librarians (20%), nurses (11%) and social workers (10%). Forrest showed that the librarians are the second most active implementers of bibliotherapy: in fact, their role in bibliotherapy is critical [Crumley 2006], especially when they select readings for bibliotherapy purposes. With good knowledge of relevant published materials, they can select readings to help users with mental, emotional, domestic and social problems. For instance, choosing the story of the Cinderella could be a powerful tool for children from broken homes [Fanner and Urquhart 2008]. Pehrsson et al. [2007] discussed over several titles helpful for children with divorced parents. Those and similar readings would help distressed persons to draw problem solving strategies from the experiences of characters in 485

3 the book, identify how characters dealt with similar anxieties, frustrations and disappointments they may be facing too, and gain insight into alternative solutions or courses of action they may take [Pardeck 1990]. Overall, through the use of bibliotherapy, people develop a good self-concept, increase their understanding of others behavior, foster self-appraisal and relieve emotional and mental pressure. Emem denoted 4 tasks for librarians who want shoulder the role of a counselor for their clients as follows: Bibliotherapy for the emotionally and socially disturbed; Giving the right book to the right user and the right time to ensure character building; Using project work for individualized learning; Using biographies (to find suitable reading materials in specific circumstances) [Emem 2009, p. 3]. On the other hand, counseling is a specific relation between a counselor based upon procedures which the counselor applies to find the source of clients' problems. Afterwards, the counselor tries to find methodological ways to heal the clients' pains or improve her/his behaviors [Safi 2001, p. 36]. Apparently, the method is a faceto-face one and the client should trust in the counselor's faith and rely on her/his knowledge and experience. Counseling was selected for the present study as a procedure prevalently used in various sectors of society, either academic or public. The major problems among university students are educational stress, financial issues, examination stress and relationship stress. In the current study we aimed to benefit of bibliotherapy and counseling effectiveness in reducing students' distress. For achieving that goal, a sample of distressed students (n=40) from all (n=260) PhD students of Tarbiat Moallem University (TMU) in Tehran was recruited. Identification of distressed students was based on their assertion to be distressed. Effectiveness of counseling and bibliotherapy for stressful people is investigated in a study by Jokar et al. [Jokar, Bagheban, Ahmadi 2007]. They found that both methods are effective even though they differ in nature. The effect of bibliotherapy has been tested for various problems. For instance, Chung and Kwon tested the bibliotherapy effect on treatment of social phobia among 38 volunteers [Chung, Kwon 2009]. The applicants were divided into three groups. The first group received bibliotherapy with feedback, the second group received bibliotherapy without feedback and the third group was assigned as controls. Prior to and after the treatment the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) were used. The results gained from SPS were positively significant with the control group, nonetheless, the SIAS showed no significant relationship between test groups and control group. Surprisingly, there were no relationship between two test groups who received bibliotherapy with or without feedback [Chung Kwon 2009]. Gildea and Levin [Gildea, Levin 2007] examined the utilization of bibliotherapy in asylums. They came along with the fact that the bibliotherapy is effective even in the asylums, where there is almost little hope for hospitalized people to be completely healed. Jack and Ronan reviewed literature on bibliotherapy and suggested that the field of bibliotherapy is in need of development with regard to more methodologically stringent forms of validation, notwithstanding meta-analytic findings in some areas [Jack, Ronan 2008, p. 161]. METHOD The study examined the effectiveness of bibliotherapy performed by librarians on distressed students. For evaluating the performed bibliotherapy level of effectiveness, a counseling treatment was established and both 486

4 methods' results (i.e. results gained from bibliotherapy and counseling) were compared. The study began by launching an announcement in the PhD students Dormitory of TMU which claimed for postgraduate volunteer students who suffered from educational stress. Therefore, 40 participants were recruited and divided into three groups. All the recruited participants were PhD students. The first group (n=13) received bibliotherapy by two librarians, the second (n=14) received counseling by a psychologist and the third group (n=13) was assigned as control group. The bibliotherapy method was based on reading a novel by Hoshang Moradi Kermani entitled Majid Stories. The novel is biography of Majid, a boy student character, who has to deal with a series of problems during his life. The solutions he finds for his problems are sometimes funny but decisive and almost always effective. The novel is published as a series of stories and is well popular among almost all sectors of the society. The effectiveness of bibliotherapy has been assessed by several steps: 1) evaluation of the performance of librarian who conducted bibliotherapy, 2) pre- and post-test, 3) depression of the participated students' was examined before and after the treatments. One of the two librarians performed the story telling and another one distributed and gathered the pre- and post-test forms. For examining the stress level, the subscale of Depression from the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) developed by Lovibond & Lovibond in 1995 was used. The DASS has three subscales and totally 42 items. The depression subscale has 14 items (each with 3 points) with a total of 42 points. Subscale of depression scores are classified into three strata: 0 14: low stress, 15 28: moderate stress and high stress. The normalized cut-off for DASS in Iran is 20. Therefore, all Iranian students with scores higher than 20 (n=40) should be considered as distressed people. The dependent variable was depression. The test groups took part in 8 sessions of treatment. In the settled sessions for bibliotherapy group, The Majid Stories was read by a librarian. In each session, the librarian read a section of the book and at the end of reading he discussed the story with the participants. Through the selected book, the main character (i.e. Majid) deals with various study issues. The reading session was always followed by a 5 10 minutes discussion over the Majid problems and the solutions he finds. For counseling group a face-to-face counseling was performed in a separate room by a psychologist. The content of counseling addressed several issues: 1. Identification of illogical thoughts and cognitive distortion, 2. The ways for controlling negative thoughts and replacing negative ideas with positive ones, 3. Positive thinking and the techniques, 4. Stress and its symptoms, 5. The effects of stress on mental and psychological health, 6. Techniques for fighting the stress and 7. Relaxation. Prior to begin the first session and after conducting the last one, both groups completed the depression subscale of DASS. The pre- and post-tests in both groups were performed by a librarian under the supervision of a psychologist. RESULTS Participant's demographic data including their sex and marital status are shown in Table 1. The results of pre- and post-tests in the three groups are shown in Table 2. As reflected in Table 2, there is no bold difference among the three groups' means in the pre-test. However, there are distinctive differences between pre- and posttest results of test groups. 487

5 Table 1. Participants distinguished by their sex and marital status Variable Category Frequency Percentage Sex Marital status Male Female Single Married Table 2. Participants' mean and standard deviation in pre- and post-tests Group No. Test Mean S.D Counseling 14 Pre-test Post-test Bibliotherapy 13 Pre-test Post-test Control 13 Pre-test Post-test Table 3. The Levine's test results for examining the homogeneity of groups' variances F Numerator df Denominator df Sig. Level The Levine's test tests the assumption of the homogeneity of the groups' variances (Table 3). Because the F scores were not significant, the assumption of homogeneity of groups' variances came true. Accordingly the COVARIANCE analysis model was used. Table 4. The COVARIANCE analysis results of the effects of treatments over the stress Dependent Variable Educational stress Square Sum df Square Mean F Sig Table 4 shows that there is a significant difference between at least two of the three groups. For identification of those two groups, paired-test comparison was set among the three groups (Table 5). Table 5 shows that there is a significant difference between both groups of counseling and bibliotherapy with the control group. This means that either bibliotherapy or counseling treatment were effective in students' stress reduction. The post-test mean of depression in counseling group was lower than the post-test mean of depression in bibliotherapy group. Nonetheless, the two groups' depression scores after the treatment were not significant. 488

6 Table 5. Paired-tests among test and control groups Ref. group Comparison Group Mean Difference Test Error Sig. Bibliotherapy Counseling Control Bibliotherapy Control Table 6. the comparison of participants' stress based on their sex Group No. Mean SD df t Sig. Male Female Table 6 shows the means of depression based on the participants' sex. Accordingly the males depression were higher than the females'. There was no significant relation between the two groups depression. Table 7. The comparison of stress scores of participants identified by their marital status. Group No. Mean SD df t Sig. Single Married Table 7 shows that the mean of stress of singles is higher than the married ones'. However, there was no significant relation between the depression of single and married participants in the two groups. CONCLUSION The study showed that the librarians are capable of performing bibliotherapy with satisfactory results. Although the reported results for the bibliotherapy and counseling was in favorite of counseling (i.e. counseling had a better results), the difference lays in the n a t u r e of treatments and not in the p e r s o n s who performed the treatments. As shown in previous studies (e.g. [Jokar et al. 2007]), the methods application and procedures differ significantly, thus we can not infer that the counseling has advantage over the bibliotherapy. The study positive result was the point that the librarians' performance in bibliotherapy treatment was satisfactory. Although story telling has always been performed for children bibliotherapeutic treatment, the results showed that we can use bibliotherapy even for adults. The results depicts that the selected story had a satisfactory effect on the participants status. The study showed that the differences between the pre- and post-tests' results of the bibliotherapy and the counseling groups were significant; however, the relation between the depression scores of bibliotherapy and counseling group after the treatment was not significant. This means that the bibliotherapy and counseling had different effects over the participants. This finding was not in agreement with previous studies, such as Navabi- Nejad and Riahinia study [Navabi-Nejad, Riahinia 2008] who reported a significant relation between the effects of bibliotherapy and counseling in treatment of stressful clients. 489

7 Bibliotherapy was performed by a skillful librarian with previous experiences in bibliotherapy. On the other side, the counseling was performed by an expert psychologist. The pre-test and post-test DASS questionnaires tested the participants stress. The study showed that the counseling has better results than the bibliotherapy in depression reduction, however, the bibliotherapy method was far straightforward than the counseling. Besides, the bibliotherapy treatment is an indirect method of treatment and the client may feel greater confidence than in case of counseling. Bibliotherapy as a method of treatment can be simply utilized in schools and for children, teenagers and younger adults without an overt client resistance for treatment, nonetheless, the bibliotherapy effects for serious disorders are not scientifically confirmed [Navabi-Nejad, Riahinia 2008; Chung, Kwon 2009]. The study findings recommend that the librarians can actively participate in bibliotherapy treatment in various environments. The librarians' involvement in the bibliotherapy can be entirely useful especially when their clients refer to them for treatment assistance by means of properly chosen readings. Even when the clients come to the library for finding self-help books, the librarians assistance is highly helpful. In these situations, they can identify the clients' mental or psychological issues. Moreover, their involvement in such situations can be productive when they refer the clients to a counselor or psychologist for further or complementary assistance or treatment. Overall, the bibliotherapy, as a method of treatment, needs efficient qualifications. * Notice: The authors acknowledge the assistance of psychologist Saeid Tolabi in performing the study. REFERENCES Chung, Y.S., J.H. Kwon (2009). The Efficacy of Bibliotherapy for Social Phobia. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention Advances 22(4), p Emem, P.U., doc. online (2009). Individualized Learning in Universal Basic Education: Implications for the Librarian as Counselor. Library Philosophy and Practice. [visited: ]. Jack, S.J.; R.R. Kevin (2008). Bibliotherapy: Practice and Research. School Psychology International 29(2), p Jokar, M.; I. Bagheban; S.A. Ahmadi (2007). Comparison of Face to Face Counseling Cognitive Bibliotherapy in Reducing Depressive Symptoms. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology 12(3), p McMillen, P.S. (2008). The Bibliotherapy Education Project: Alive and Well and Perpetually under Construction. Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian 27(1), p Navabi-Nejad, S.; N. Riahinia (2008). Comparison of Bibliotherapy and Counseling Methods in Reducing the Stress of Distressed Females. Unpublished Granted Research. Tarbiat Moallem University. Riahinia, N.; A. Azimi (2007). Bibliography Usage and Practice: a Study through Tehran's Academic Centers. Library Herald 45(1), p Safi, A. (2001). Counseling and Guidance in Education. Tehran: Roshd Publication. Crumley, E.T. (2006). Exploring the Roles of Librarians and Health Care Professionals Involved with Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Journal of Medical Library Association 94(1), p Fanner, D.; C. Urquhart (2008). Bibliotherapy for mental health service users. Part 1: A Systematic Review. Health Information & Libraries Journal 25, p Forrest, M. (1998). Recent development in reading therapy: a review of the literature. Health Library Review 15(3), p Jack, S.J.; K.R. Ronan (2008). Bibliotherapy: Practice and Research. School Psychology International 29(2), p

8 McMillen, P.; D.E. Pehrsson (2007). Specialty of the house: bibliotherapy for hospital patients. Journal of Hospital Librarianship 4, p Pardeck, J.T. (1990). Children s literature and child abuse. Child Welfare 69, p Pehrsson, D.E.; B.A. Virginia et al. (2007). Bibliotherapy With Preadolescents Experiencing Divorce. The Family Journal 15(409), p Riahinia, N.; A. Azimi (2007). Bibliography Usage and Practice: a Study through Tehran's Academic Centers. Library Herald 45(1), p