Community Knowledge, Attitudes and Perception towards Mental Illness in Dodoma Municipality, Tanzania (original) (raw)

2016, ARC Journal of Public Health and Community Medicine

Community attitude and perception towards mental illness play a major role in successful treatment and social reintegration of people with mental health problems. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and perception of the community towards mental illness in Dodoma Municipality. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select a sample size of 384 from the study population. A descriptive cross-section study was employed and semi-structured questionnaire were used in this study. The results showed that most of participants 85.9% (n=330) had poor knowledge about mental illness. Fifty one percent (n=196) could not identify any type of illness, 58.9% (n=226) connoted negative attitude towards persons with mentally illness. Moreover 75.8% (n=291) of these had poor perceptions about mental illness. Poor knowledge, perception and negative attitude still prevail despite the fact that there is a National Mental Hospital located in Dodoma Municipality, Tanzania.