فهرست مطالب سید وحید شریعت

Verbal fluency test is a useful method to evaluate cognitive executive functions. Studies have shown that both types of verbal fluency test (phonemic and semantic) are influenced by brain damage. This test is rarely used by clinicians because it takes too much time to perform. Therefore, we decided to increase its speed and accuracy by designing a verbal fluency test application in Persian language. The study on designing the application of verbal fluency test in Persian was published in the journal of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience entitled “Verbal fluency performance in normal adult population in Iran: norms and effects of age, education and gender”. To design the application, two software engineers, one programmer, and one graphic designer had cooperation with each other. First, the programming was done. During the programming, the programmer first implemented the tables related to the test. Then, by entering constant variables, an initial layout in the form of a look-up table was developed. Then, the graphic designs were added to the application. By testing 100 different scores with the relevant table and receiving the output, the accuracy of the initial version was confirmed. After designing the software, field tests were performed by 10 clinicians to evaluate the application in terms of ease of use and main structural errors. Finally, by testing 100 different scores, the accuracy of the final version was confirmed. The verbal fluency test application in Persian can increase the use of psychological and cognitive tests by Iranian clinicians by increasing the speed and accuracy of tests.

Wikipedia is one of the most important online sources of information that can be edited by any one. About 80% of people in developed countries use the Internet to search for mental health information, which generally includes disease symptoms, illnesses, and treatment methods. Existing studies have reported varying degrees of quality for mental health information on the Wikipedia website. To our knowledge, there is no study on the quality of information on the Persian version of Wikipedia, especially in the field of mental health. Due to the importance of Wikipedia for Internet users, the main purpose of this letter is to present a brief report on the Iranian authors' efforts in improving the quality and quantity of mental health information on the Persian Wikipedia. This can a step to promote the general knowledge of the community about the mental health.

 In order to plan according to the needs of psychiatric patients, there is a need to study different aspects of social stigma in target groups. Due to the limited access to questionnaires used for assessment of social stigma in Persian, this study aims to review all of the tools available for assessment of social stigma, which have been designed in Iran or have been translated to Persian. 

 This is a conceptual review study. After extensive review of resources, articles related to social stigma in the health system and conducted on health care staff, students, caregivers or patientschr('39') families, psychiatric patients, mothers with children with autism, mothers with children with Down syndrome, and the general population were included in the study. We extracted the information of Persian questionnaires used in the reviewed articles. The questionnaires and additional information were collected by contacting the authors of the articles via E-mail.

 There were 21 questionnaires for assessing social stigma in Persian language. Of these, 19 questionnaires could be accessed and analyzed. Most of the questionnaires were the translated version of other tools, and only 4 questionnaires had been developed and validated in Persian.

 Most of the questionnaires in Persian are used to measure social stigma in health care staff and students followed by caregivers or patientschr('39') families. There is limited number of questionnaires for the assessment of social stigma in general population and patients. This is in contrast to the other languages that have mainly focused on assessment of stigma in general population and patients. To date, no questionnaire in Persian exists for the assessment of social stigma in children and adolescents.

The present study was conducted to determine national priorities of mental health and funded by Iranian Mental Health Research Network. The most important advantage of priority setting is effective investment and budgeting on mental health problems. Exact prioritizing increases cost-effectiveness of interventions and prevents waste of national resources.

Researchers from various related disciplines, health care program planners and authorities, executive managers and service providers participated in this study. In the first stage, a comprehensive list of mental health topics was prepared and classified by reviewing the literature and brain storming. In the second stage, the criteria for priority setting of topics under each field and their impacts were determined. In the third stage, using nominal group technique (NGT), 50 topics were screened and 25 topics were selected. These 25 topics were classified to smaller subjects and then expert(s) in each subject reviewed the national and international evidence of relevance and importance of each subject. Using available evidence, and by nominal group technique, priority of subjects in each field was set based on the prioritizing criteria.

Finally, 25 subjects were chosen. The top 10 subjects as the national mental health priorities were: three subjects from psychiatric disorders including substance dependence, depression and suicide; two subjects from mental health problems and determinants including domestic abuse and aggressive behaviors, stress and disasters; three subjects from mental health & substance use services, systems and policies including integration of mental health in primary health care, urban mental health and emergency services; and two subjects from specific populations including children and adolescents, and vulnerable women.

The document on national priorities in mental health confirmed by main authorities in the field would, as much as possible, support and promote mental health policies and programs in the country towards the determined priorities.

To systematically review studies on attitude، knowledge، and satisfaction of health personnel and general population about the program of integration of mental health in PHC in the recent 20 years.

International and local databases were electronically searched. Hand searching، reviewing reference lists and personal communications were also done. 11 studies on attitude and knowledge and one study on satisfaction were selected after reviewing full texts of the documents.

Most studies were on Behvarzes and general population and few studies assessed other groups. Knowledge of the studied groups were higher than average in most studies. The only satisfaction study suggested a medium، high، and low satisfaction of general population from interpersonal and care delivery، time and cost benefit، and treatment outcomes، respectively.

Knowledge and attitude of the personnel and general population seems to be average or higher in most studies. This could be partly due to implementation of the integration program. However، more empirical data is needed to evaluate the issues more specifically.