IntroductionStigmatizing attitude toward patients with severe mental disorders is one of the main obstacles of improving the mental health of societies. Media plays an important role in how the public views mental health issues. Thus, we have performed this study to investigate the Iranian theater artists' mental health status, and their view toward patients with severe mental disorders.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed via an online anonymous survey including the Social Distance Scale and the Dangerousness Scale measuring the attitude of participants toward patients with severe mental disorders, and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). It was disseminated to artists who had the experience of working in theater in the past year in Iran.ResultsOur survey was responded by 104 artists. Social Distance Scale scores' mean was 10.67 (scores can range from 0 to 21) and the Dangerousness Scale scores' mean was 28.87 (scores can range from 8 to 56); higher scores indicate worse discrimination. Our participants' strongest fears were to let someone with a severe mental disorder to take care of their children, and for these groups of patients to obtain a hunting license. Twenty-six (25%) participants were at risk of moderate to severe anxiety, and 18 (17.3%) participants were at risk of moderate to severe depression.ConclusionBy and large, our participants did not have a positive attitude toward patients with severe mental disorders. Providing the knowledge of mental health issues can help the general public to be more tolerant of the mentally ill and specifically, theater can be employed to fight stigmatizing mental health issues by educating its audience.

Background Child maltreatment has been a major worldwide problem and has remained a persistent public health challenge in all countries. Physicians have a significant role in the prevention and intervention of child maltreatment. An educated physician that can effectively identify and report child maltreatment can fill one of the most significant gaps in reducing child abuse. This study was performed to examine the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding child maltreatment among Iranian medical students through an internship course. Method All the medical students (235 students) of the Iran University of Medical Sciences who passed the internship entrance exam in the 2019–2020 academic year participated in this study. The participants completed a 49-item scale questionnaire built by combining three other validated questionnaires that evaluate their attitude, knowledge, and practice skills in the first month of their internship course and then completed the same questionnaire 18 months later, at the end-point of the internship period. Results One-hundred thirty nine (59.1%) participants were female, and 96 (40.9%) were male. The mean age of the subjects was 24.35 ± 0.76. Only 7 (3%) of them formerly received any education about child maltreatment. There was a significant improvement in scores of the knowledge of prevention (p-value = 0.001), the practice of prevention (p-value < 0.001) and the general subscale of the practice section (p-value < 0.001) during the internship course. However, the performance of participants decreased significantly in the subscales of the attitude towards diagnosis (p-value = 0.001) and the attitude towards reporting (p-value < 0.001) of child maltreatment. At the end of the study, the result of graduated physicians was: The total knowledge and attitude of participants were satisfactory, and the majority were at reasonable levels. Although in the practice subscale, 70.6% of the participants didn’t identify, 84.7% didn’t refer, and 86.4% didn’t report a child abuse case in the past year. Conclusion The knowledge and attitude of Iranian physicians regarding child maltreatment are at a satisfactory level. Although, the practice level has deficiencies. In addition, our findings show that Iranian interns have a shallow experience regarding child maltreatment, particularly despite the higher scores in attitude and knowledge, which can be the reason for deficiencies in the practice level.

Objective: Clients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often engage in high-risk sexual behaviors. Online sexual platforms convey abusive and harmful themes, especially for this group of sexually impulsive patients. We hypothesized a correlation between their online sexual activities and the severity of BPD symptoms. Method: Fifty clients with BPD who were referred to Iran psychiatric hospital and Tehran Psychiatric Institute in 2020 participated in this research. The Borderline Evaluation of Severity over Time (BEST) questionnaire was used to assess the severity of BPD symptoms, and the Internet Sex Screening Test (ISST) was used to evaluate online sexual behaviors. A psychiatric interview considered substance abuse and other confounding factors. Results: The mean ISST and BEST scores were 7.82 ± 5.74 and 41.7 ± 12.5, respectively. There was a positive and significant correlation between the severity of BPD symptoms and online sexual activities (P < 0.001, r = 0.480). There was also a significant relationship between online sexual activities and a history of substance abuse (P = 0.003, F = 25.06). Conclusion: Online sexual activity can harm clients with BPD who are more vulnerable to high-risk sexual behaviors. More severe borderline personality traits were associated with more online sexual activity, which underlines the importance of providing education about and managing such activities in clients with BPD.

Background: Child maltreatment or abuse has been a worldwide major problem and has remained a persistent public health challenge in all countries. Physicians have a significant role in the prevention and intervention of child maltreatment. An educated physician that can effectively identify and report child maltreatment, can fill one of the largest gaps in reducing child abuse.This study was performed to examine the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding child maltreatment amongst Iranian medical students through internship course.Method: All the medical students (235 students) of the Iran University of Medical Sciences who passed the internship entrance exam in 2019-2020 academic year participated in this study. The participants completed the questionnaire about their attitude, knowledge and practice skills in the first month of their internship course and then completed the same questionnaire 18 months later, at the end-point of the internship period.Results: 139 (59.1%) participants were female and 96 (40.9%) were male. The mean age of the subjects was 24.35±0.76. Only 7 (3%) of them formerly received any education about child maltreatment.There was a significant difference in scores of the knowledge of diagnosis (p-value< 0.001), the practice of prevention (p-value< 0.002) and the general subscale of the practice section (p-value< 0.001) during the internship course. However, the performance of participants decreased with a significant difference in the subscales of the attitude towards diagnosis (p-value< 0.001) and the attitude towards reporting (p-value< 0.001).At the end of the study, the result of graduated physicians was: The total knowledge and attitude of participants were satisfactory and the majority of the participants were at good levels. Although, in the practice subscale, 70.6% of the participants didn’t identify, 84.7% didn’t refer, and 86.4% didn’t report a case of child abuse in the past year.Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude of Iranian recently graduated physicians regarding child maltreatment are at a satisfactory level. Although, the practice level has deficiencies and needs more education. In addition, the change of the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding child maltreatment of medical students during internship course is not sufficient and there are multiple obstacles that need to be solved.

Background: Child maltreatment or abuse has been a worldwide major problem and has remained a persistent public health challenge in all countries. Physicians have a significant role in the prevention and intervention of child maltreatment. An educated physician that can effectively identify and report child maltreatment, can fill one of the largest gaps in reducing child abuse.This study was performed to examine the efficacy of clinical medical training regarding child maltreatment among Iranian medical students and outcome of knowledge, attitude, and practice in regards to child maltreatment.Method: All the medical students (235 students) of the Iran University of Medical Sciences who passed the internship entrance exam in 2019-2020 academic year participated in this study. The participants completed the questionnaire about their attitude, knowledge and practice skills in the first month of their internship course and then completed the same questionnaire 18 months later, at the end-point of the internship period.Results: 139 (59.1%) participants were female and 96 (40.9%) were male. The mean age of the subjects was 24.35±0.76. Only 7 (3%) of them formerly received any education about child maltreatment.There was a significant difference in scores of the knowledge of diagnosis (p-value< 0.001), the practice of prevention (p-value< 0.002) and the general subscale of the practice section (p-value< 0.001) during the internship course. However, the performance of participants decreased with a significant difference in the subscales of the attitude towards diagnosis (p-value< 0.001) and the attitude towards reporting (p-value< 0.001).At the end of the study, the result of graduated physicians was: The total knowledge and attitude of participants were satisfactory and the majority of the participants were at good levels. Although, in the practice subscale, 70.6% of the participants didn’t identify, 84.7% didn’t refer, and 86.4% didn’t report a case of child abuse in the past year.Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude of Iranian recently graduated physicians regarding child maltreatment are at a satisfactory level. Although, the practice level has deficiencies and needs more education. In addition, Iranian medical training regarding child maltreatment is not sufficient and there are multiple obstacles that need to be solved.