Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology
Year:2012 | Volume:18 | Issue:2|Papers Count:16

Objectives: This study aimed to assess suicidal ideation based on gender, age, marital status and heritability coefficient estimate in a sample of 11 to 35 years-old monozygotic and dizygot twins.Method: One hundred and sixteen twins (MZ=66, DZ=50, age, 11-35) were invited to complete the Suicide Ideation Scale (SIS) in the anniversary of Laleh and Ladan.Results: Analysis of variance showed that gender, age and marital status together accounted for 80% of the total variation of suicidal ideation in twins. There were significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation between women, adolescents, and singles in comparison with men, young people, and married people, respectively. The heritability coefficient in adolescent and young twins was 0.49.Conclusion: The findings suggest that women, adolescents and single people, respectively, compared to men, young people and married people are at higher risk of suicidal ideation. Regarding heritability of suicidal ideation, supervising of significant others to people with suicide ideation must be considered in mental health policy making in the field of primary and secondary prevention.

Objectives: This study has investigated the predictive value of psychological constructs including stressfulness of life, depression, happiness and social support on the rate of suicidal thoughts in students.Method: The study sample included 1094 boys and girls residing in the Tehran University's student dormitory. The participants completed Suicidal Ideation Scale (SIS), Student Depression Scale (SDS), Student Life Stress Inventory (SLSI), Oxford Happiness Scale (OHS), and Social Support (SS) scale.Results: The statistical data analysis using multiple regression techniques showed that happiness, depression, stress and social support account for 76 percent of the changes in students' suicidal thoughts. In addition, the results showed that depression has the strongest predictive power of suicidal thoughts.Conclusion: Depression and related structural variables could be used for predicting and efficiently identifying students' suicidal thoughts.

Objectives: "Need assessment" is considered as the process of evaluation of needs in a specific domain, which is fundamental for quality improvement of health education and research. As suicide is one the most important problems in public health, it would be expected that all psychiatric residents should have adequate knowledge and skills to play their different roles in the field. This study was designed to assess educational needs of psychiatric residents at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences with the aim of determining the priorities and needs about suicide.Method: This qualitative phenomenological study was based on triangulation method. Sixteen psychiatric residents at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were recruited using purposive sampling method. Data were gathered by interview and group debates and analyzed based on Colaizzi's seven-step model.Results: The findings of this study encoded 1015 codes, distributed in three main domains: "educational needs" (to recognize causes and risk factors, psychological education, and training practical skills against suicide), "needs in process and facilities" and "human resources needs".Conclusion: This study revealed multiple educational needs in the field of suicide. On the other hand, the current educational program could not fulfill the needs of psychiatric residents with regard to the contemporary realities of suicide. This finding mandates the revision of current educational programs.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of an integrated treatment (IT) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in a group of inpatient children and adolescents with first episode psychosis (FEP) during a two year follow up.Method: In a randomized controlled trial, 40 children and adolescents with FEP based on DSM-IV criteria were recruited from referrals to Robe Hospital (Tehran, Iran). They were divided into a TAU group (N=20), and an IT group (N=20) who received a low dose of atypical antipsychotic medications and family psycho-education program, and were followed up by telephone contacts. All participants were evaluated at admission and discharge as well as in 6, 12, 18 and 24 month intervals using the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version-Persian Version (K-SADS-PLPV), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), and Children Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). Statistical methods consisted of analysis of independent t andc c2 for qualitative variables, and random effect regression model for quantitative variables.Results: The two groups showed significant improvement in all outcome measures at different time-points. The rate and duration of recurrences were lower in the IT group compared to the TAU group. All of the other outcome measures were comparable in the two groups and there was no difference between them in different follow-up periods.Conclusion: Integrated treatment may decrease the rate and duration of recurrences in children and adolescents with FEP.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the three and six month clinical and demographic outcome predictors (recurrence rate, the rate of hospitalization, severity of illness and recovery rates) in a group of children and adolescents with type I bipolar disorders.Method: The participants of this longitudinal and prospective study were 80 children and adolescents admitted in Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, Iran with a diagnosis of type I bipolar disorder. Consecutive referrals were included in a prospective cohort. The participants were evaluated at admission, discharge, and follow-up at 3 and 6 months, using demographic questionnaire, Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version-Persian Version (K-SADS-PL-PV), Young Mania Rating Scale (Y-MRS), Children Depression Inventory (CDI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Clinical Global Impression (CGI). The Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regressions were used for data analysis.Results: The 6-month follow-up showed that there was a positive correlation between the severity of mania with male gender (p=0.01) and the severity of mania at admission (p=0.04). The rate of recurrence at the 6-month follow-up was correlated (p=0.05, r=0.22) with psychosis at admission. The duration of untreated disorder (p=0.03) had a positive correlation with the severity of global impairment at the 6 month follow-up.Conclusion: This study confirms the role of some demographic and clinical features in predicting the course of disease and response to treatment.

Objectives: The aim of this research was to investigate the quality of studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iran.Method: All studies on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Iranian general population as well as school children over 15 were identified through searching several databases including PubMed, ISI WOS, Psych INFO, CINAHL, Iran doc, EMBASE, Iran Psych, Iran Medex, and Scientific Information Database as well as reference lists of the accessed documents, unpublished reports, conference proceedings and dissertations. The original studies, which contained an estimation of the prevalence of "any psychiatric disorder" (overall prevalence) among a sample of general population or high school students in the country were selected. A quality assessment checklist was developed based on the following criteria: accurate description of research questions, random sampling, representativeness of the study sample for a defined target population, using the same method of data collection for the entire sample, using valid and reliable tools, and proper analysis of the results.Results: The assessment was performed on those studies on the prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in the country that had used random sampling (43 studies). It showed that in only about 40% of the studies the sample was representative of the target population. In more than 25% of the studies, validity and reliability of the Persian translation of the instruments were not assessed or were not reported. In total, nearly a third of studies had acceptable quality (random sampling, application of valid and reliable tools, and sample representing the target population).Conclusion: Although this research-as part of a systematic review-was based only on a group of prevalence studies in psychiatric disorders, its findings indicated that a significant proportion of these studies are non-compliant with key quality measures. Instead of mere emphasis on increasing the number and quantity of studies, policy makers should employ strategies to improve research quality.

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate the psychometric characteristics of Pain Self-Management Checklist (PSMC) in the population with chronic pain.Method: First, the checklist was administered to 186 patients with chronic pain, selected through random sampling in Tehran (n=86) and Ardebil (n=100). Then, test-retest reliability coefficient was evaluated with another 30 patients with chronic pain. In addition to the PSMC, some other checklists including Physical Disability Questionnaire (PDQ), Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21), Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI), and chronic pain case-finding questionnaire were used for data collection. To validate the PSMC, its correlation with other instruments was investigated, and the reliability was calculated using Chronbach’s alpha and test-retest.Results: The results indicated that this checklist has high correlation with most important pain co-morbidity constructs (depression, anxiety, stress and physical disability). Therefore, it has appropriate construct validity. Moreover, the reliability of this checklist using Chronbach’s alpha and test-retest was appropriate.Conclusion: This study provides evidence for the advantage of using this checklist for Iranian patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to find out if gratitude can increase positive affectivity, happiness and optimism in Iranians with low positive affectivity. Method: In this quasi-experimental study, 636 students of three Iranian Universities (Shahed, Vliasr, and University of Sience and Culture) were chosen using pretest-posttest method. Then 96 low positive affect subjects were chosen. Finally, 62 subjects completed satisfaction form and were assigned randomly into seven groups (Gratitude and Neutral Strategies based on the Emmons, Seligman and Verbal-Action patterns, and a Control group), and received separate instructions in specific envelopes. The data required were collected Positive And Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), and Life Orientation Test (LOT). Then the data of 50 participants were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistical methods. Results: The results showed significant increase in positive affects by Seligman and V-A strategies (p=0.20), and increase in happiness by Emmons, Seligman and V-A strategies (p=0.04).Conclusion: The results confirmed the effect of the above three training strategies on the expansion of positive affectivity and happiness.