A study on community attitudes towards the mentally ill among youth in Gujarat

Abstract

Background: Mental illness is a major contributor to global disease burden and this is expected to increase over years. In community mental illness has not been well understood by the lay persons, resulting in stigmatizing attitudes towards persons with mental illness and mentally ill. High mental health literacy which includes adequate knowledge and positive attitudes in college students towards psychiatric illnesses would benefit society at large. Aims: Aim of the study was to assess knowledge and attitude of college students of Medical, Arts Faculties towards the mentally ill and socio-demographic correlates using CAMI subscales. Methodology: Medical college and Arts colleges were surveyed Cross Sectionally regarding students' attitude towards psychiatric illness using the Community Attitude towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale. Totally 1231 Students' responses were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods on SPSS version 15.0. Results: On CAMI scale, students had positive attitudes for Benevolence subscale & Community Mental Health Ideology Subscale. There was a mixed response on Social Restrictiveness subscale and negative attitude was found on Authoritarianism subscale in majority items. Significant differences were observed in attitude towards mentally ill by gender, faculty of education, family type and domicile. Conclusions: These results suggest that widespread educational campaigns need to be implemented across the college students to increase knowledge about mental illness and reduce stigma towards mental illness and mentally ill persons by educational interventions and training which will benefit community at large.