The Attitude of Iranian Students Toward Patients with Mental Illnesses in Different College Majors

Background: this study was conducted to understand and compare the iranian students’ attitudes toward patients with mental illnesses in different college majors. methods: in this cross-sectional study, information about students’ attitudes toward patients with mental illnesses was gathered through “the social distancing” and “the dangerousness” questionnaires. results: a total of 243 iranian students in four different college majors: medicine, art, law, and engineering, participated in the study. the “social distance scale” was significantly different between the college majors (p=0.03), as the art students had the least stigmatizing attitude. furthermore, there was no significant difference in the “dangerousness scale” between different college majors (p=0.93). conclusion: understanding the attitude of students toward patients with mental illnesses and their differences is vital to perform proper interventions on stigmatizing behaviors for students as future specialists. also, the underlying reasons for having a less stigmatizing attitude in certain groups should be recognized and employed to reduce stigmatizing attitudes in other groups.