Community study of knowledge of and attitude to mental illness in Nigeria (original) (raw)
Related papers
International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 2014
Background: The study examined the public attitude towards person with mental illness: A case study of Amassoma Community, Bayelsa State. Objective: The study set out to assess the perception and misconceptions of the community about mental illness. Methodology: Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire from 500 participants from 20 compounds using convenient sampling technique regardless of occupation, gender, marital status or educational qualification but the participants must not be below 18 years of age. The data were analyzed using frequency distribution, simple percentages and chi-square method of statistical analysis. Results: The results revealed that majority (57.4%) of the participants were stereotyping, 29.5% agreed with stigmatization of mentally ill of which 55% were females. Conclusion: Public enlightenment on mental health-mental illness must be urgently embarked upon to change their negative views about mental illness and every effort to reduce the patients' stigmatization should be done so that the patients can have sense of worth and belongingness.
The study examined the public attitude towards person with mental illness: A case study of Amassoma Community, Bayelsa State. Objective: The study set out to assess the perception and misconceptions of the community about mental illness. Methodology: Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire from 500 participants from 20 compounds using convenient sampling technique regardless of occupation, gender, marital status or educational qualification but the participants must not be below 18 years of age. The data were analyzed using frequency distribution, simple percentages and chi-square method of statistical analysis. Results: The results revealed that majority (57.4%) of the participants were stereotyping, 29.5% agreed with stigmatization of mentally ill of which 55% were females. Conclusion: Public enlightenment on mental health-mental illness must be urgently embarked upon to change their negative views about mental illness and every effort to reduce the patients' stigmatization should be done so that the patients can have sense of worth and belongingness.
2016
Background Mental illnesses worldwide are accompanied by another pandemic, that of stigma and discrimination. Public understanding about mental illnesses and attitudes towards people with mental illness play a paramount role in the prevention and treatment of mental illness and the rehabilitation of people with mental illness. Objective To assess community attitude and associated factors towards people with mental illness. Methods Community based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 28 to May 28, 2014. Quantitative data were collected through interview from 435 adults selected using simple random sampling. Data were collected using community attitude towards mentally ill (CAMI) tool to assess community attitude towards people with mental illness and associated factors. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of community attitude towards people with mental illness and the level of significance association was determined by beta with 95% con...
Mentally-ill patients struggle not only from the symptoms and disabilities of the disease but also the challenges from the stereotypes and prejudice that result from the misconceptions about mental illness. The general objective of this study was to assess peoples' understanding, perception and attitude towards mental illness in Enugu North Senatorial District, Nigeria. The study was cross-sectional by design, and conducted in Enugu North Senatorial District, Nigeria, from May to August 2016. Data were collected by 36-item structured, interviewer-administered questionnaires and analyzed using the IBM SPSS for Windows, Version 20.0. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized with p-value ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant. Majority of the respondents had poor understanding (53.7%), wrong perception (55.3%), and bad attitudes (57.3%) towards mentally-ill patients. More males (49.6%) had good attitudes than females (37.6%) (χ 2 = 4.02; df = 1; P = 0.045). There was a positive correlation between perception and attitude (r = 0.262; P < 0.001). Majority of the respondents chose orthodox medicine (33.6%) or its combination with traditional medicine (32.3%) as preferred treatments. In conclusion, the people of Enugu North Senatorial District in Southeastern Nigeria had a fair understanding of the causes of mental illness, but poor perception and attitudes towards the mentally ill.
Knowledge of and Attitude to Mental Illnesses in Nigeria: A Scoping Review
shape attitudes and have been shown to have a huge impact on the acceptance of the mentally ill amongst Nigerians [8]. Research has linked negative societal attitude with the behaviour of the mentally ill, rather than the cause of these mental illnesses [1,8,9]. Thus, mentally ill persons are frequently referred to as dangerous, suspicious, unstable, unreliable, irresponsible, and homicidal [1]. These labels on the mental behaviour of the mentally ill have aggravated stereotypes and provoked further prejudices on people with mental illnesses [9]. The impact of the stigmatizing attitude and poor knowledge of mental illness among Nigerians have shown to be a major hurdle to improving mental health in Nigeria. Current evidence Abstract Background: Many Nigerians have misconceptions and misbeliefs about mental illness, hence stigmatize people with mental illness. This scoping review on the knowledge of and attitude towards mental illness among Nigerians aims to identify the extent of literature on the issue, summarize current reports and identify research gaps in hopes to proffer workable solutions to this problem.
Community Perceptions on Mental Illness in Bungoma County, Kenya
Objective. The objective of the study was to evaluate the perceptions towards mental illness and the mentally ill by the community in Bungoma County, Kenya. Design. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study and Quantitative methods were adopted. Setting. The study was carried out in Bungoma County Sample. Five Sub-Counties in Bungoma County were purposively sampled to increase the representation. The household's heads were sampled by stratified sampling; the researcher divided the population into strata and drew a predetermined number using simple random sampling (n = 396) Analysis. Data wasanalyzed through descriptive statistics and regression. Main outcome measures. Attitude towards the mentally ill Results. From the results, 69.7% (276) of the respondents think the mentally ill are a burden to the society. Majority of the respondents 67.7 % (268) agreed that the best therapy for many of the mental patients is to be part of the normal community.The results showed that 69 % (272) disagreed that virtually anyone can become mentally ill. From the results 66.7% (264) agreed that it is frightening to think of people with mental problems living in a residential neighbourhood.Majority 260 (65.7%) agreed that the mentally ill should not be given any responsibilities.Regression model results indicated that the two predictors: a) attitude and b) knowledge of mental illness and mental health, explained 34.4% of the variance (F [2, 369] = 24.713, p < 0.05, R 2 = .344), equating to a medium effect size. Regression analyses found that predictor variables perception (β = .19, p < 0.05) significantly predicted increased likelihood that participants would stigmatize people with mental illness. Conclusion. The study findings established that there is negative perception by members of the community of Bungoma County towards the mentally ill persons. Recommendation. The study recommends that sensitization of the community/ public on mental illnesses is important in Bungoma County. Scaling up public awareness campaigns to reach more people by diversifying the approaches targeting specific group of family members having mentally ill persons.
https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR\_Vol.8\_Issue.4\_April2018/IJHSR\_Abstract.05.html, 2018
Stigma towards persons with mental illness is both a longstanding and widespread phenomenon that affects help seek behavior and quality of life of persons with mental illness Objective: This study was conducted to determine the knowledge and attitudes of university students towards persons with mental illness. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. A convenience sample of 130 volunteer students attending University of Uyo was recruited into the study. The data of the investigation were collected using Socio-demographic Information Form and the 40 items Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI) Results: High levels of negative and stigmatizing attitudes exist in the university students’ community as shown by high proportions of assent to items expressing authoritarian and socially restrictive views towards the mentally ill together with views expressing less benevolent attitudes in spite of acceptance of the idea of community treatment of mental illness. There was an underlying limited knowledge of causation and nature of mental illness. Conclusion: Stigma and negative attitude toward mental illness is widespread in a community of tertiary educational students in a resource poor setting. Health educational strategies are required to change these negative attitudes and reduce stigma towards the mentally ill persons.
KIU Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology
Objectives: The study investigated respondents’ attitudes toward people living with mental, illness the relationship between attitude toward those individuals and socio-demographic characteristics, and factors influencing attitude toward those individuals among urban residents of North-western Nigeria. Methods and Material: An analytic cross-sectional design adopted to interview 407 respondents recruited using multistage sampling technique. A structured interviewer-guided questionnaire was used to obtain data, organized and analyzed with SPSS version 20. The data were summarized using frequency distribution tables and percentages. Chi-square was used to test the relationship between attitude scores on people with mental health issues and socio-demographic characteristics at 5% level of significance, within a 95% confidence interval. Results: Half (50.8%) of respondents had a positive attitude toward people living with mental illness. Statistically, significant association was found ...