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Introduction: As the incidence of mental disorders continues to rise, and pharmacy staff can significantly affect the willingness of patients with mental disorders to seek help; we aimed to evaluate the stigmatizing attitude of the pharmacy staff toward these patients in Iran., Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study between April 2020 and December 2021 in Tehran, Iran, and included pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy students, with the experience of working in a pharmacy for at least three months. The social distance scale (SDS) and dangerousness scale (DS) were used to measure the stigmatizing attitude of the participants. Higher scores indicated more stigmatizing attitudes., Results: We included a total of 186 participants with a mean age of 32.97 ± 9.41 years, of which 101 (54.3%) were male, and 75 (40.3%) were pharmacists, 101 (54.3%) were pharmacy technicians, and 8 (4.3%) were pharmacy students. The mean SDS score was 14.2 ± 4.13, and the mean DS score was 33.85 ± 8.92. The greatest tendency for social distance was reported for a patient with a mental disorder, 'being the caretaker of their children for an hour or two' and 'marrying their children.' The most perceived dangerousness was reported for a patient with a mental disorder 'owning a gun.' Positive personal history of psychopharmacological treatment was statistically correlated with lower DS (P = 0.001) and SDS (P = 0.007) scores. Positive family history of psychiatric inpatient admission was significantly correlated with higher DS (P = 0.05) and SDS (P = 0.03) scores. Higher rates of 'received psychiatric prescriptions per month' was associated with lower DS scores (P = 0.04)., Conclusion: Our participants did not have an overall positive attitude toward patients with mental disorders. Although, compared to previous studies, they held a more positive attitude. Positive personal history of psychopharmacological treatment predicted a more positive attitude and positive family history of psychiatric inpatient admission predicted a more negative attitude., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Mental disorders are accountable for 16% of global disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Therefore, accessible, cost-effective interventions are needed to help provide preventive and therapeutic options. As directors and screenwriters can reach a great audience, they can use their platform to either promote stigma or educate the public with the correct definition and conception of mental disorders. Therefore, we aimed to measure the stigmatizing attitude of contemporary Iranian directors and screenwriters toward patients with mental disorders in comparison with a general population group., Methods: In this comparative study, we included 72 directors and screenwriters between 18 and 65 years of age with a minimum involvement in at least one movie/television show, and 72 age and educationmatched controls. We collected the demographic data of the participants, and used the Persian version of the Level of Contact Report (LCR) to measure their familiarity with mental disorders, and used the Persian version of Social Distance Scale (SDS) and Dangerousness Scale (DS) to measure their attitude toward them., Results: Compared to the general population group, directors and screenwriters had significantly lower SDS (12.51 ± 3.8 vs. 13.65 ± 3.73) and DS (12.51 ± 3.8 vs. 13.65 ± 3.73) scores (P < 0.001), indicating a more positive attitude toward patients with mental disorders. Familiarity with mental disorders was not significantly different between the groups. Female sex was associated with a more negative attitude among the directors and screenwriters group. Additionally, among the SDS items, 'How would you feel about someone with severe mental disorder marrying your children?' and 'How would you feel about someone with severe mental disorder taking care of your children for a couple of hours?' received the most negative feedback in both groups. And among the DS items, 'there should be a law forbidding a former mental patient the right to obtain a hunting license' received the most negative feedback in both groups., Conclusions: Iranian contemporary directors and screenwriters had a more positive attitude toward patients with mental disorders, compared to general population. Due to this relatively positive attitude, this group of artists can potentially contribute to anti-stigma initiatives by offering educational materials and resources, promoting mental health care, and improving access to mental health care., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Stigmatizing 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., Methods: This 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., Results: Our 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., Conclusion: By 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., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Eissazade, Aeini, Ababaf, Shirazi, Boroon, Mosavari, Askari-Diarjani, Ghobadian and Shalbafan.)