The prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the related demographic factors among the patients referred to comprehensive health centers in Jiroft 2017

Introduction: Mental disorders are one of the main causes of disability and increase the use of health care services. Due to the increasing number of psychiatric disorders in Iran, the present study aimed to examine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and their relations to demographic variables in clients attending Jiroft’s comprehensive health services centers in 2017. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study is a cross-sectional survey. Clients attending Jiroft’s comprehensive health services centers in 2017, formed the statistical society of the study. Convenience sampling method was employed to select 280 of these clients who were asked to answer the demographic questionnaire and SCL-90-R. The data was then analyzed using SPSS software, Chi-Square Test, and T Test. Results: According to the Global Severity Index (GSI), 39.2 % of the clients had psychiatric disorders. The categories of SCL-90-R revealed that somatization disorders (13.1), phobia (12.7), paranoid ideation (12.7), interpersonal sensitivity (11.6), anxiety (7.5), depression (6.0), obsessive-compulsive disorder (5.6), hostility (5.2) and psychoticism (3.0) were highly prevalent. Mental health proved to be significantly correlated with some demographic variables. The results of Chi-square test also showed a significant correlation between mental health and the income level (p<0.01), mental health and suicidal ideation (p<0.01), mental health and marital status (p<0.05), and mental health and occupational status (p<0.01). Conclusion: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in clients referring to urban comprehensive health services centers is remarkably higher than the reported statistics in the public population and hence, requires more attention and priority to mental health issues in this area.