The discrimination of psychiatric patients: an assessment of the influence of faith, level of religious involvement and spirituality upon patient devaluation

Abstract

Background. Stigmatization dates as far back as ancient times. Nowadays, this term is defined as a public condemnation of individuals and/or excluding them from social groups. This phenomenon may apply to almost all aspects of life. The issue of mental health is one of the most affected. Objectives. This paper aimed to assess the influence of one’s religiousness on the process of devaluation and discrimination of psychiatric patients. An original questionnaire was designed by the authors which was addressed to followers of different religions among Central and Eastern European countries. Material and methods. The questionnaire gathered information regarding socio-demographic data and also used psychometric tools: Religious Involvement Scale (RIS), Spirituality Questionnaire (SQ) and Perceived Devaluation and Discrimination Scale (PDD). A total of 308 respondents took part in the research, the vast majority of whom were women – 232 (75.3%). The mean age of the study group was 26.5 ± 9.6 years. Results. The analysis of the influence of socio-demographic factors showed that women obtained lower values on the SQ scale than men (p = 0.047). No significant difference has been reported in the RIS and SQ scales in relation to GDP/capita and HDI. There was no significant statistical relationship between PDD and RIS totals, while there was an inverse relationship between SQ and PDD. Conclusions. The impact of religiousness and spirituality on the deterioration and stigmatization of individuals with mental illnesses is an important issue as this phenomenon can negatively affect their process of treatment and regression of symptoms.