Palestinian Muslim College Students' Attitudes to Mental Health Treatment: A Comparative Study.

This study examined the association between the degree of religiosity, combined with cultural beliefs, social stigmas, and attitudes towards mental-health treatment in two groups, who, despite having similar cultural and religious affiliation, have experienced different socio-political contexts: Palestinian Muslim college students living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Israel. The study was guided by Tanhan and Young's (2021) conceptual framework. Methods: A snowball recruitment strategy was applied, using a cross-sectional survey. A total sample size was 214 students, 105 from the OPT and 109 from Israel. Results indicate that students from the OPT (n = 105) did not differ from those living in Israel (n = 109) on religiosity using the Islamic Belief scale, or Attitudes Towards Mental Health treatment (F(1, 189) = 1.07, p = 0.30). However, students from the OPT had higher confidence in mental-health professionals (M = 15.33) than their counterparts (M = 14.59), and women had higher confidence (M = 16.03) than men (M = 13.90). The reliance on traditions for Muslim students over Western mental-health approaches is a critical factor in predicting the attitudes towards students' mental problems and their chosen treatment. Sociopolitical context played a significant role in shaping attitudes toward mental-health providers.

Personal and psychiatric characteristics among Druze soldiers attempting suicide during military service.

BACKGROUND: A non-fatal suicide attempt is a strong predictor of suicide. This study aimed to examine personal characteristics and psychiatric diagnoses among Druze soldiers who attempted suicide during their military service. METHOD: The research group (n = 180) included all Druze soldiers who had attempted suicide between the years 2008-2012 (This number encompassed 18.4% of all suicide attempts in the IDF during those years). Three control groups were examined: Jewish soldiers who had attempted suicide (n = 155), and two additional groups comprising Druze and Jewish combat soldiers who had not attempted suicide (n = 5,255 and n = 205,819, respectively). RESULTS: While Druze soldiers were diagnosed with psychiatric conditions less frequently than their Jewish counterparts, the more prolonged time to diagnosis among Druze may account for increased severity at time of diagnosis, thus increasing the risk of suicide attempt. A multivariate analysis revealed that the odds of a suicide attempt among Druze soldiers were much higher than among Jewish soldiers (OR 20.53; p < .001). In addition, it was found that average and high socioeconomic levels, strong Hebrew language skills, and high intelligence levels were protective factors against attempted suicide (p < .001, R2 = 0.217). LIMITATIONS: The three control groups were samples, while the research group (Druze attempters) consisted of all instances of attempted suicide during the study period. Comparing only samples would have offered less statistical power; therefore, using all the records in the research group improved accuracy.