Study of Psychiatrist's knowledge, attitude, and practice toward compulsory admission of psychiatric patients and its related laws in Iran in 2006

Background and The aim of this study was to investigate the Iranian psychiatrist's knowledge, attitude and practice about compulsory admission and its related laws. The target group of this descriptive prospective study was the entire Iranian psychiatrists whose addresses were available in Iranian psychiatry association. Assessment was performed through a self-report questionnaire, which contained 52 evaluating questions. Questionnaires were mailed to psychiatrists and assessed after they returned the answers. We obtained responses from 116 psychiatrists. Twelve and a half percent of them had been complained against due to compulsory admission. More than 50% of them had studied literature crowing psychiatric health laws, and 12.1% of them had a poor knowledge reyording this literature. About 70% of them believed that the present law is not befitting with current needs. Majority of them reported that they hospitalize their patients involuntarily and they prefer their opinion on compulsory admission rather than other resources in most situations. These findings suggest that the present law about compulsory admission of psychiatric patients is deficient and not befitting with current needs. Furthermore, lack of education in this view is obvious and prominent.