KNOWLEDGE REGARDING MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS IN COMMUNITY AMONG THE ASHA WORKERS

Abstract

Mental health' and 'mental illness' are increasingly being used as if they mean the same thing, but they do not. Everyone has mental health, just like everyone has health. As the World Health Organization famously says, “There is no health without mental health.” In the course of a lifetime, not all people will experience a mental illness, but everyone will struggle or have a challenge with their mental well-being (i.e., their mental health) just like we all have challenges with our physical well-being from time to time. Amental illness is an illness the affects that way people think, feel, behave, or interact with others. There are many different mental illnesses, and they have different symptoms that impact peoples' lives in different ways. Just as it's possible to have poor mental health but no mental illness, it's entirely possible to have good mental health even with a diagnosis of a mental illness. That's because mental illnesses (like other health problems) are often episodic, meaning there are times ('episodes') of ill health and times of better or good health. With the right supports and tools, anyone can live well—however they dene well—and nd meaning, contribute to their communities, and work towards their goals. Objectives 1.To identify the knowledge regarding mental health and mental illness in community among the ASHAworkers in Kasaba Bawada, Kolhapur. Methodolgy: A non-experimental descriptive survey design was used for the study. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 60 samples. Data collection was done using structured knowledge questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using descriptive (mean, S.D, Frequency and Percentage). The majority of the workers 40 (66.67%) belonged to the age group 31-40 years and minimum 08 (13.33%) workers belong to age group 41-50 years. The maximum of the workers 54 (90.00%) belonged to Hindu religion, and the remaining 6(10.00%) belonged to Muslim and Other religion. Maximum workers 56(93.34%) were married, and remaining 4 (6.66%) were widowed. Majority of the workers 28 (46.66%) studied till SSC and minimum 2 (3.34%) studied till graduation. Maximum 46 (76%) workers have poor knowledge and 13 (22%) have average knowledge regarding mental health and mental illness. Conclusion:The project work concludes that maximum workers have poor knowledge regarding mental health and mental illness, so there is need to focus on awareness of mental health among all the ASHAworkers.