The Relationship Between Awareness of and Respect for the Rights of the Patients With Mental Disorders From the Perspective of Nurses

Abstract

Background: It seems difficult to develop comprehensive legislations that can include the\rrights of all psychiatric patients. Nevertheless, awareness of patients’ rights among patients with\rpsychiatric disorders and their caregivers play an important role in advancing the treatment goals\rand human rights. This study was aimed to determine the relationship between awarness of and\rrespect for the rights of patients with psychiatric disorders.\rMethods: This analytic cross sectional study was conducted on 100 psychiatric patients who\radmitted to psychiatric wards of selected educational hospitals affiliated to Ahvaz University of\rMedical Sciences. Patients entered to the study on the census form in 2012. To collect data, a\rresearcher-designed questionnaire was used to investigate the rights of patients with psychiatric\rdisorders. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient\rtest. SPSS V.19 software was used for data analysis.\rResults: According to the results, psychiatric patients’ awareness of their rights was at a moderate\rlevel, and the mean score was 14.42±8.66. Respect for these rights from patients’ perspective\rwas at a good level, and the mean score was 90.61±33.87. According to the results of Pearson\rcorrelation coefficient test, a significant relationship was found between awareness of and respect\rfor patient’s rights from patients’ perspective (P<0.000).\rConclusion: The results showed that the patients’ awareness of their rights was not at an\racceptable level. It is recommended to provide interventions in order to promote the patients’\rawareness on admission to psychiatric ward.