Suicidal attempt and psychiatric disorders in Iran

This study is part of broader research aimed to determine the lifetime prevalence and pattern of comorbidity on self-reported suicidal attempts in the general population of Iran. Overall, 25,180 subjects were interviewed, face-to-face, at home; the lifetime prevalence was 1.4% (0.9% males and 2% females). The majority of attempters were 26-55 years of age, married, more highly educated, female, retired, and lived in urban areas. Many of the attempters (45.3%) reported at least one psychiatric disorder during their lifetime; major depressive disorder (22%), panic disorder (6.3%), and obsessive compulsive disorder (6%) was the most common. Because less than half of suicidal attempters reported a psychiatric disorder, the existence of other pathways to suicide may be important foci for prevention. Many of the demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in Iran are very similar to those seen in Western cutlures; however, the sociodemographic factors such as few working women and very low levels of divorce is quite different to that of Western populations.     

Knowledge,Attitude, and Practice of Clerical Students with Respect to HIV/AIDS in Iran, 2011

In this study, knowledge and attitude of Iranian clerical students toward HIV and AIDS was assessed. Through a cross-sectional study, 367 clerical students were surveyed, in convenience sampling method, in the Qom seminary in 2011, utilizing a self-administered structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was piloted on 20 clerical student volunteers, internal consistency measured with Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89. Participants’ scores of knowledge and attitude were calculated out of 100. The level of knowledge in 37.33 % of participants was good (scores >80), whereas 46.05 and 16.62 % had moderate (40 < scores ≤ 80) and poor (scores ≤40) levels of knowledge, respectively. The mean score of knowledge and attitude was 58.29 (95 % CI 56.11–60) and 77.26 (95 % CI 75.92–78.59) out of 100, respectively. A significant correlation was observed between level of knowledge and attitude (r = 0.33, P < 0.001). Knowledge score appeared to be significantly higher in women compared to men (p = 0.04). With an increase in age, the level of knowledge significantly decreased (r = ?0.10, P = 0.02). We could also detect a statistically significant relationship between attending educational courses on HIV/AIDS and inclusion of HIV/AIDS topics in the individual’s sermons (P < 0.001). Although clerical students had shown some sort of positive attitudes toward HIV, their knowledge still needs to be improved to enable them to deliver more accurate information to the community during the course of their speeches. Having HIV-related courses as part of their curriculum or aside may contribute a lot to this.     

Reflexive Social Orienting in Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from Gaze Cueing Paradigm

Twin and family studies have shown that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have a strong genetic basis and are highly heritable. First degree relatives of individuals with ASD often show mild expressions of autistic traits attributed to Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP). While numerous studies investigated different aspects of BAP, less research has been done on gaze orienting especially in parents. In the present investigation, 43 parents of children with ASD and 29 parents of typically developed children completed a modified version of gaze cueing paradigm. Results demonstrated that the control group used the eye gaze in a way that their RT was affected by congruent versus incongruent cues, while this effect was not observed in parents of individuals with ASD. Findings of the current study provide further evidence on gaze orienting deficits in parents of children with ASD, which might relate to their mild difficulties in mind-reading abilities and a common cognitive phenotype with their affected children.     

Pragmatic Competency and Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: A Comparative Assessment with Normal Controls

Unlike such cognitive impairments as autism and schizophrenia, the speech pattern in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) has largely remained underrepresented. We examined the pragmatic competence of OCD-affected individuals under two variant modes: pragmatic recognition and pragmatic production. In the recognition phase, the informants completed a discourse completion test around two speech acts of request and apology (20 high power distance situations). The production phase was carried out through an interview during which the informants’ communication behaviors were rated on the basis of the Orion’s pragmatic language skills checklist (OPLS) subscales. No significant difference was observed between the normal and OCD groups in terms of pragmatic recognition. Moreover, considering the OPLS subscales, although the normal controls significantly outperformed in non-verbal communication and expressive skills, the overall pragmatic production ability of the two groups was statistically alike. The results are discussed in relation to the two competing disorders of autism and social anxiety.     

Is Detecting a Target in a Compound Geometric Shape Influenced by Stimulus Density? A Developmental Study

We studied the pattern of performance in elementary school children and adults detecting a target in compound geometric shapes. The target was randomly presented at the global, local, or neither level of compound shapes with different elemental density. A significant difference between the pattern of performance in children and adults emerged when the geometric shape was constructed with fewer constituent parts. That is, children showed difficulties in recognizing the global level while adults could efficiently process it. We suggest that global processing continues to develop as children grow older. Also, integration ability could benefit from increasing familiarity with the geometric concepts.     

Evaluating the Redistribution Policy and the Right to Social Welfare in Kant’s Philosophy

The notion of social welfare was created by the paradigm shift from duty-based to right-based morality, in which the satisfaction of human needs is a right in line with preserving human dignity. This paper investigates Kant’s view on social welfare in light of redistribution policy. Kant bases his political philosophy on external freedom. Notwithstanding the ethical principles of his philosophy, he is the first prominent thinker to clearly emphasize the necessity of a redistribution policy by the government toward providing for the needs of the poor and the needy. The important question remaining is whether or not the Kantian ideas of external freedom and redistribution for the sake of satisfying the right to social welfare can reach a compromise. It seems that Kant believes the redistribution policy to be not the right of the poor to be provided welfare by the state, but the right of the state, and as such, the states' right to task the people with providing for the welfare of the poor. Such a policy challenges the freedom of the wealthier class and apparently leads to an inconsistency between the two pillars of Kant’s sociopolitical philosophy. The current paper aims to find Kant’s response to this challenge by referring to his scattered arguments.     

Burst Out of the Dead Land by the Help of Spirituality: A Case Study of Living with Blindness and Cancer

Blindness is one of the most complex problems related to health throughout the world. The condition is worse when such stress is accompanied with cancer. The aim of this case study was to introduce a patient with both these conditions who could come over her problems well. A phenomenological hermeneutic approach influenced by Ricoeur was used to explore the experience of the patient. Data were collected through unstructured and deep interview and by checking patient medical records. The patient is an Iranian 58-year-old teacher residing in Kerman who became blind at age 32 due to bloodshed inside the eye and was affected by breast cancer at age 52. The patient could come over these divine tests through the help of spirituality so that she believed blindness and cancer was the best events in her life. Spirituality is one of the human aspects that give meaning and purposes to life. Health care providers are suggested to implement spiritual strategies such as instructional workshops for increasing spirituality in settings, such as oncologic wards for patients to pass stages of adaptation to such great stresses easily and rapidly.     

Working Memory Capacity and Relative Clause Attachment Preference of Persian EFL Learners: Does Segmentation Play Any Role?

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - To contribute to a better understanding of first language (L1) and second language (L2) sentence processing, this study investigated the relationship between...