Family Process and Content: Comparing Families of Suicide Attempters, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Positive Patients and General Population in Southern Iran, 2012

BACKGROUND: Family is considered as the smallest social unit, which is the basis of forming a society and one of the effective factors for individual behaviors. When family pattern is useful, the family will be productive and otherwise it becomes nonproductive. AIM: This study aimed to investigate family process and content among families of suicide attempters, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients, and general population in Shiraz, Southern Iran. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This was a causal-comparative study. Our study population included three groups of single men, including suicide attempters, HIV positive patients and general population in Southern Iran. Our sample size was 180 male individuals including 60 suicide attempters referring to one of hospitals in Shiraz, 60 HIV positive patients referring to Behavioral Health Consultation Center, and 60 individuals from the general population who were selected using simple sampling method and were being investigated by Samani's family process and family content questionnaires. Data were being analyzed by ANCOVA and MANCOVA. RESULTS: The two clinical groups had a poorer situation than the general population (P < 0.001) in some dimensions of family process including decision-making and coping (P < 0.001), mutual respect, and communication (P = 0.02) when compared with the general population. HIV positive patients had significantly lower scores than suicide attempters in some dimensions of family content including financial resources, social position (P < 0.001), and place of residence (P = 0.04). The two clinical groups had a poor situation in most of the dimensions when compared with the general population (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate the importance of education in the field of communication, decision-making and coping skills.