title: Surveying the attitudes of transsexual patients referring to Tehran Institute of Psychiatry toward doctors' empathy, Iran, 2011-2012.
abstract: Physicians' knowledge of therapy and counseling stands among the most important issues in the viewpoints of clients who refer to psychiatric centers. Transsexual patients are very important in this regard. The goal of this research is to study their attitude toward doctors' empathy. A group of transsexual patients who referred to the Tehran Institute of Psychiatry, Iran, answered the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. The relationship of the patients' age, gender, education level, and lifestyle with their attitude was measured. This study was conducted on 40 patients, including 16 women (40%) and 24 men (60%). In terms of education, 8 patients had a degree below high school diploma (20%), 9 had high school diploma (22.5%), and 23 patients were university students or of higher education level (57.5%). Among these patients, 6 were unemployed (15%), 10 were students (25%), and the rest were employed. Moreover, 8 participants lived alone (20%), 5 lived with their friends (12.5%), and 27 lived with their family (67.5%). Gender had no influence on the average score of the questionnaires, yet level of education had some influence. Lifestyle also had a significant influence on the patients' attitude. On the other hand, patients whose problems began before the age of 12 had lower score than others. Experienced psychologists in referential centers can express greater levels of empathy to specific diseases and this trend is very effective on the patients' cooperation level. In order to create an effective relationship between physicians and patients, the efficiency of the health system and increasing satisfaction of specific patients should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Researcher, Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
authors.forename: Ghazaleh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ahmadi Jazi
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eftekhar
authors.affiliation: Skin and Stem Cell Research Center, Department of Dermatology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
authors.forename: Pezhman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mobasher
authors.affiliation: Medical Ethics PhD Candidate, Department of Medical Ethics, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;
authors.forename: Saeedeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saeedi Tehrani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran;
authors.forename: Khosro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rastgouy Fahim
keywords: empathy; patients’ attitude; sexual identity disorder; transsexual