BACKGROUND: The prevalence of dissociative disorders in Iran is unclear. This study evaluates the prevalence of dis-sociative disorders among outpatient psychiatric patients in an Iranian metropolis.METHODS: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in 2015-2016. The statistical population consisted of eligible patients who visited the outpatient clinic at Ibn-E-Sina Psychiatric Hospital in Mashhad, Iran. The participants who met the inclusion criteria were selected by simple non-random sampling from patients and were asked to fill out the following forms: demographic data, Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), and the WHO-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). The data was analyzed in SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and P<0.05 was considered significant.RESULTS: The frequency of dissociative experiences (DES scores more than 30) was 22.5%. The mean DES score was 15.8 & PLUSMN;15.4. The frequency of dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder, and depersonaliza-tion/derealization disorder were 18.7%, 3.6%, 11.3%, and 15.6%, respectively based on the results of CIDI. There were no significant differences between different psychiatric diagnostic groups in terms of DES scores (P=0.181).CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of dissociative disorders among psychiatric outpatients in Ibn-e-Sina Hospital was relatively high.

OPINION article Front. Psychiatry, 26 January 2023Sec. Public Mental Health Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1027316

Determining the reliability and validity of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS-P) in Iran was the purpose of this study. We translated the MAKS into Persian and back into English. The validation process included linguistic validation, face validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity. We perform multiple linear regressions to test the association between mental health knowledge and independent variables. A total of 384 people completed the Persian version of the questionnaire. In total, 64.6% of the respondents were women. The majority of respondents (51.6%) were married and did not have a full-time job (67.7%). The linguistic validation was confirmed. All the items of the questionnaire had acceptable face validity, except question number one, which was deleted due to incompatibility with the Iranian culture. Good internal consistency and reliability were shown by an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.77. The test-retest approach was performed and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.845. Eigenvalues and the scree plot supported a 2-factorial nature of the translated survey form. The first and the second factors explained 33.14 and 14.92% of the variance, respectively. Age, education, and working status can be considered possible predictors of the MAKS-P score. The MAKS-P is a trustworthy questionnaire to assess stigma-related mental health knowledge in Persian-speaking societies.

BACKGROUND:Nomophobia is the fear of being disconnected from one's mobile phone, prevailing in modern area. To the best of our knowledge, no Persian psychometric scales are available for investigating nomophobia among Iranians. Therefore, we here aimed to translate and validate the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) for being used in Iran.METHODS:The NMP-Q was translated from English to Persian using a classical "backward and forward" procedure. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out to explore the underlying factor structure of the translated questionnaire. A principal component analysis (PCA) approach with varimax rotation was further performed.FINDINGS:425 volunteer students were included. Among them, 80.2% were 20-30 years old. Men and women constituted 187 (44.0%) and 238 (56.0%) of the participants, respectively. 100 (23.5%) of the subjects were medicine graduates. Using mobile phones for more than 5 years was noted in 215 (50.6%) subjects. Also, 422 (99.3%) subjects connected to the Internet via their cellphones. Regarding cellphone usage, 301 (70.8%) subjects used them less than 5 hours a day, 158 (37.2%) subjects checked their cellphones less than 10 times a day, and 92 (21.6%) subjects checked their cellphones every 20 minutes. Eigenvalues and the scree-plot supported a 3-factorial nature of the translated questionnaire. NMP-Q showed an overall Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.93 (the coefficients of 0.90, 0.77, and 0.71 for the three factors, respectively). The first, second, and third factors explained 26.30%, 20.84%, and 17.60% of the variance, respectively. The total score of NMP-Q correlated with the hours spent with mobile phones, the years of using them, and the age.CONCLUSION:Our findings showed that the Persian version of the NMP-Q was a valid and reliable tool for evaluating nomophobia among Iranians.