ABSTRACT
The study is aimed to compare the attitudes of medical practitioners and allied medical professionals, other than mental health workers, towards mental illness, mental health services and their patients in Jordan and to recommend a strategy to reduce the stigma, which represents an additional burden on patients with mental health problems and their families. We collected views of 300 medical practitioners and 300 allied medical professionals, from different hospitals in the Jordanian Royal Medical Services concerning stigma. One hundred seventy six medical practitioners compared to one hundred fifty one allied medical professionals considered mental illnesses to be a medical problem like diabetes or hypertension with a statistically significant difference [p<0.001]. A fair number of allied medical professionals believed that mental illness is a type of madness [n=69] or a possession by a demon [n=60], and that mentally ill patients are dangerous and impulsive [n=140] compared to 29, 23, and 99 medical practitioners respectively with statistically significant differences [p<0.0005, 0.00002, 0.002] in that order. One hundred forty five medical practitioners compared to 115 allied medical professionals thought that the public does not trust the treatment provided by psychiatrists and other mental health workers with a statistically significant difference [p<0.0007]. Allied medical professionals believed the media helped to reduce stigma of mental illness in contrast to the medical professionals which thought that it did not. The majority felt the need for an increase in public awareness of mental illness and wish to participate in mental health campaigns to support mental health development in Jordan. Health care professionals at all levels are still carrying negative attitude towards mental health services and their patients in Jordan
ABSTRACT
To examine the relationship between advancing parental age, at the time of conception of offspring, and their risk of autism in Jordan. A multicenter descriptive correlational study, conducted in the period between the 1[st] of August 2010 and the 1[st] of January 2011. We included all registered cases of Autism in eleven specialized centers dealing with autistic children, recognized by The National Council for Family Affairs, The Ministry of Education, and The Ministry of Social Affairs, from Irbid in the north to Aqaba in the south. In the present study, we investigated the association of autism with parental age in 229 autism cases from Jordan. Patients were fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10[th] Revision criteria for the diagnosis of autism. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 10 programs were used to analyze the data; Non-Parametric tests; chi[2] test, and frequencies were applied to analyze the relation between parental age at the time of conception and the risk of autism. Statistically significant results were those with a P-value < 0.05. There was no significant increase in the risk of autism with advancing parental age. Moreover, Autism was more frequent in the offspring of parents aged [25-35] years at the time of conception. In the majority of cases 127/229 [55.46%], paternal age at the time of conception ranked in the age group of [25-35] years old, chi[2] = 181.463, df = 3, which was found to be of highly statistical significance with a P-value of < 0.0001. Maternal age at the time of conception also ranked in the age group of [25-35] years, 134/229 [58.51%], chi[2] = 71.642, df = 2, it was highly statistically significant with a P-value of < 0.0001. No relation between advanced parental age and the occurrence of Autism. Moreover, Autism was more frequent in parents who were aged less than 35 years old at the time of conception