The results suggest that a substantial burden of psychiatric morbidity exists in the prison population of Iran, with treatment challenges that appear to be different from those observed in inmates in Western countries.

Few cross-cultural studies have assessed psychopathy and none have included a sample from non-western countries. This study investigated the factor structure of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV) in an Iranian sample, and compared the results with a western sample. Three hundred fifty-one Iranian prisoners were compared with 405 participants of the standardization sample of the PCL:SV. Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory method were used for data analysis. The Iranian data fitted well with the hierarchical three-factor model of psychopathy and neither two- nor four-factor models showed an adequate fit. Differential item functioning existed across samples, with discriminatory power of factor 1 (arrogant and deceitful interpersonal style) being lower in the Iranian sample that for factor 2 (deficient emotional experience) being greater in the Iranian sample than the standardization sample. Deficient emotional experience might be the most significant factor in diagnosing psychopathy, regardless of the studied culture. Other factors appear to be relatively culture-specific.

Background:Measurement of life quality as an index of health status has a widespread application in health care domain.Objectives:The current study aimed to determine the quality of life of referents to addiction cessation centers of Iran.Patients and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 988 addicts who had referred to addiction cessation centers in Shahroud were studied through SF-36 questionnaire. The data were analyzed using linear regression in structural equation modeling and STATA 12 statistical software.Results:The mean ± SD age of the participants was 41.2 ± 11.8 years. Most of the referents used smoking followed by eating method of opium abuse. The mean ± SD score of life quality was 67.8 ± 17.2, the mean ± SD score of life quality in physical health dimension was 76.9 ± 26.7, and the mean ± SD score in mental health dimension was 64.5 ± 18.4. Univariate analysis showed a significant relationship between life quality and gender, place of residence, education, occupation, marital status, and income (P ≤ 0.05). However, in multivariate analysis a significant relationship was observed only between gender, socioeconomic status, and quality of life score.Conclusions:Although most studies have reported low and weak quality of life in addicts, the findings of this study shows that the life quality score of addicts is rather good. It seems that the maintenance treatment that addicts receive in addiction cessation centers has been effective in improving the quality of life of the patients. Hence, expanding methadone treatment centers can play a leading role in the improvement of life quality in addicts.

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