| Sri Lankan doctors' and medical undergraduates' attitudes towards mental illness. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 19688283 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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BACKGROUND: Stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness can impede help-seeking and adversely affect treatment outcomes, especially if such attitudes are endorsed by medical personnel. In order to help identify targets for anti-stigma interventions, we comprehensively examined negative attitudes towards mental illness displayed by Sri Lankan doctors and medical students and compared these with equivalent UK and other international data. METHOD: A self-report questionnaire originally developed in the UK was completed by medical students (n = 574) and doctors (n = 74) from a teaching hospital in Colombo. The questions assessed the presence and intensity of stigmatizing attitudes towards patients with schizophrenia, depression, panic disorder, dementia and drug and alcohol addiction. RESULTS: The study revealed higher levels of stigma towards patients with depression, alcohol and drug addiction in this Sri Lankan sample compared to UK data but attitudes towards schizophrenia were less stigmatized in Sri Lanka. Blaming attitudes were consistently high across diagnoses in the Sri Lankan sample. Sri Lankan medical students displayed more negative attitudes than doctors (P < 0.001). Overall stigma was greatest towards patients with drug addiction, followed by, alcohol addiction, schizophrenia, depression, panic disorder and dementia. CONCLUSIONS: Sri Lankan doctors and undergraduates endorse stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illnesses and are especially prone to see patients as blameworthy. As such attitudes are likely to affect the engagement of patients in treatment and specific interventions that modify negative attitudes towards people with mental illnesses are needed. Ensuring that medical students have contact with recovered patients in community psychiatry settings may be one way of decreasing stigmatizing attitudes. |
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Authors:
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Sunera Mayanthi Fernando; Frank P Deane; Hamish J McLeod |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2009-08-18 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology Volume: 45 ISSN: 1433-9285 ISO Abbreviation: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Publication Date: 2010 Jul |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2010-06-21 Completed Date: 2010-08-31 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 8804358 Medline TA: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Country: Germany |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 733-9 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka. sunera@gmail.com |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adult Asian Continental Ancestry Group / psychology*, statistics & numerical data Attitude of Health Personnel* Community Psychiatry European Continental Ancestry Group / psychology Female Great Britain / ethnology Humans Male Mental Disorders* / ethnology Physicians / psychology*, statistics & numerical data Questionnaires Schizophrenia / ethnology Sri Lanka / ethnology Stereotyping Students, Medical / psychology*, statistics & numerical data* Substance-Related Disorders / ethnology |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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