Abstract
Abstract
Background
Mental illness is associated with misunderstanding and unfavorable attitude worldwide. The belief in its spiritual nature made traditional healers the main service consultants for mentally ill patients. The present study is a cross-sectional study conducted among 425 main family caregivers of mentally ill patients at Assiut University Hospital. The objective of the study was to assess the caregivers’ knowledge and attitude towards mental illness as well as their health-seeking behavior for their mentally ill relatives.
Results
The studied caregivers had low scores of knowledge and attitude towards mental illness. Age of the caregivers, their education, and the type of first consulted care and aggressive behavior of the mentally ill relatives were the significant predictors of caregivers’ knowledge and attitude towards mental illness. The majority of caregivers (80.2%) sought advice for the first time from traditional healers. Traditional healers referred only 16.4% of caregivers’ mentally ill relatives to psychiatric care.
Conclusion
The studied caregivers had poor knowledge and a negative attitude towards mental illness. Traditional healers were the main consulted care. So, increasing awareness of mental illness is highly recommended.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health
Reference39 articles.
1. CDC. Mental health basics [Internet]. Centers for disease control and prevention. 2013. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics.htm
2. Steel Z, Marnane C, Iranpour C, Chey T, Jackson JW, Patel V et al (2014) The global prevalence of common mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis 1980-2013. Int J Epidemiol. 43(2):476–493
3. Bebbington P (2001) The World Health Report 2001. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 36(10):473–474
4. El Ahmed NA. Knowledge attitudes and behaviors of psychiatric patients and families in relation to psychiatric patients rights. Alexandria University; 2008.
5. Mahmoud S, Zaki RA (2015) Internalized stigma of mental illness among schizophrenic patients and their families (comparative study). J Educ Pract. 6(12):82–98
Cited by
10 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献