This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

SO255

Suicide stigma and mental health literacy among medical residents at Tehran University of Medical Sciences

SUICIDE STIGMA AND MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY AMONG MEDICAL RESIDENTS AT TEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Among medical residents, higher levels of mental health literacy in specific domains are associated with lower acceptance of suicide and a stronger belief in its preventability; the most negative attitudes are found among younger, male, and less experienced residents.

The study aimed to assess medical residents’ attitudes toward suicide and their relationship with mental health literacy. Conducted during the 1401–1402 academic year (2022–2023), this cross-sectional study enrolled 363 residents from all specialties through snowball sampling after obtaining informed consent. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Suicide Scale (ATTS; 3 factors, 30 items), and the optional Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS; 6 factors, n=218). Data were analyzed using SPSS, with Spearman correlations and group comparisons (alpha = 0.05). Of the sample, 62.5% were women, the mean age was 33.3 years (women: 33.5 ± 4.9; men: 33.2 ± 6.8), 54.8% were single, and 40.2% were married; the mean ATTS score was 91.8 (range 30–150), and the mean MHLS score was 97.9 (range 35–160, n=218). Approximately 7 in 10 participants agreed that suicide could be an acceptable way to end life for patients with an incurable illness; regarding personal experiences, 29% reported a psychiatric history, 41% reported personal suicidal ideation, and 19% reported a family history of suicide attempts. Scores on the general acceptance factor were higher among younger residents (p=0.009) and lower among married residents (p<0.001); preventability scores were higher among younger residents (p<0.001); and difficulty communicating scores were higher among men (p=0.017) and lower among married residents (p=0.001). The strongest Spearman correlations between ATTS and MHLS were between difficulty communicating and help-seeking attitudes (r=0.34, p<0.001), difficulty communicating and disorder recognition (r=-0.33, p<0.001), preventability and disorder recognition (r=0.25, p<0.001), difficulty communicating and attitudes toward people with mental illness (r=-0.22, p=0.002), preventability and knowledge of self-help strategies (r=0.21, p=0.003), and preventability and help-seeking attitudes (r=-0.19, p=0.006). The authors suggest that educational interventions focusing on suicide prevention and mental health literacy may reduce stigma and should target younger, male, and more junior residents; the single-center design, optional MHLS section, and reliance on self-report measures are the main limitations. Note: the conference abstract reported a sample size of 326; the figure of 363 given in the poster was used here.

All WCP 2026 summaries