Mental Health Research Center, Psychosocial Health Research Institute, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Brain and Cognition Clinic, Institute for Cognitive Sciences Studies, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Feb 15;12(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-01550-x.
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.
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.
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.
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.
精神障碍占全球伤残调整生命年（DALY）的 16%。因此，需要可及且具有成本效益的干预措施，以帮助提供预防和治疗选择。由于导演和编剧可以接触到大量观众，他们可以利用自己的平台来宣传耻辱感，或者用精神障碍的正确定义和概念来教育公众。因此，我们旨在衡量当代伊朗导演和编剧对精神障碍患者的污名化态度，并与一般人群进行比较。
在这项比较研究中，我们纳入了 72 名年龄在 18 至 65 岁之间的导演和编剧，他们至少参与过一部电影/电视剧的制作，以及 72 名年龄和教育程度相匹配的对照组。我们收集了参与者的人口统计学数据，并使用波斯语版的接触水平报告（LCR）来衡量他们对精神障碍的熟悉程度，使用波斯语版的社会距离量表（SDS）和危险量表（DS）来衡量他们对精神障碍的态度。
与一般人群相比，导演和编剧的 SDS（12.51±3.8 与 13.65±3.73）和 DS（12.51±3.8 与 13.65±3.73）得分显著较低（P<0.001），表明他们对精神障碍患者的态度更为积极。两组之间对精神障碍的熟悉程度没有显著差异。在导演和编剧组中，女性性别与更消极的态度相关。此外，在 SDS 项目中，“你如何看待有严重精神障碍的人与你的孩子结婚？”和“你如何看待有严重精神障碍的人在几个小时内照顾你的孩子？”在两组中都得到了最负面的反馈。在 DS 项目中，“应该有一项法律禁止曾经患有精神疾病的人获得狩猎许可证”在两组中都得到了最负面的反馈。
与一般人群相比，伊朗当代导演和编剧对精神障碍患者的态度更为积极。由于这种相对积极的态度，这群艺术家可以通过提供教育材料和资源、促进精神卫生保健以及改善获得精神卫生保健的机会，为反污名化举措做出贡献。
