Relationship between Awareness of and Respect for Patients’ Rights from the Perspective of Patients Admitted to Psychiatric Wards

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