O que sabem e pensam os enfermeiros sobre a doença mental: Estudo do conhecimento e atitudes estigmatizantes em saúde mental

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stigma in mental health continues to be a reality. Because of their role, nurses' stigmatizing attitudes are often more harmful. Learning factors and knowledge are responsible for changes in stigma levels. AIM: To describe the knowledge about mental health and the levels of stigmatizing attitudes of nurses working in a Hospital in the central region of Portugal; To analyze the extent to which stigmatizing attitudes correlate to mental health knowledge. METHODS: The sample is non-probabilistic for convenience, being constituted by 83 nurses. The questionnaire, besides the sociodemographic characterization of the participants, integrates a question about the perception of knowledge and another about the perception of stigma in mental health; the Portuguese version of the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule; and the Portuguese version of the Mental Illness Clinician's Attitudes Scale. RESULTS: Nurses consider their stigma in mental health too low and their level of knowledge medium. The levels of stigmatizing attitudes of the sample are low and the level of knowledge is high. There is a negative relationship between the levels of stigmatizing attitudes and the perception of knowledge and a positive relationship with the level of perceived stigma. Nurses who work in non-psychiatric wards have more stigmatizing attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses showed reasonable knowledge of mental health and low levels of stigma, but these values worsen in nurses who do not work in psychiatry wards.