University students’ attitudes towards mental ill

Abstract

Mental illness is a global health problem that affects one in four people around the world. Despite its high incidence, there is strong social discrimination towards this population (WHO, 2004). Different professionals encounter, in their daily performance, situations of interaction with these patients and may act as stigma perpetuators if they display negative attitudes of fear and hostility (Roos and Goldner, 2009). Likewise, contact with these mental ill patients will condition their attitudes toward the disease. The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes of future professionals of Health Sciences toward mental ill patients, compared with students of other knowledge fields, and to explore if maintaining contact with these patients can modify these attitudes. The questionnaire “Opinions concerning mental illness” (Ozamiz, 1980) was administered to 820 students (70.37% women and 29.63% men) from different degrees of Health Sciences, and Social and Legal Sciences. This scale assessed global Attitude and five subscales (Negativism, Social Etiology, Authoritarianism, Restrictivism, and Prejudice), obtaining a reliability higher than .7 in Negativism and Social Etiology. Results indicated that Health Sciences students show lower levels of Negativism towards mental ill patients than students in Social and Legal Sciences degrees, regardless of the contact maintained. In addition, students who report contact with these patients have lower levels of Negativism, not differing in a statistically significant way neither in the general Attitude, nor in social Etiology, and regardless of the university degree. These results seem to indicate that negative attitudes toward mental ill patients is lower among Health Sciences students and among students who have contact with this population compared with Social and Legal Science ones.