Caregivers’ Attitude towards People with Mental Illness and Perceived Stigma: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Hospital in Nepal

Abstract

BackgroundMental illness is stigmatized in most of the communities and people with such illness are often subjected to defame. Stigma impairs an individual’s and their caregiver’s physical, social and emotional wellbeing, and health-seeking behavior. Sufficient literature on how often the caregivers of people with mental illness from low and middle-income countries are stigmatized and how they perceive people with mental illness is unavailable. In this study, we examined caregivers’ attitude towards people with mental illness and perceived stigma.MethodsWe conducted face-to-face interviews with 170 caregivers in an outpatient clinic of a hospital in Nepal using a structured questionnaire. We calculated median and inter-quartile range of the attitude and perceived stigma scores. To assess the correlates, Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann Whitney U test were carried out.ResultsOverall median score for the domains: attitude (score range: 18–90) and perceived stigma (score range: 12–60) were 42 and 28 respectively, inter-quartile range being 8 each. Attitude score differed significantly by the sex of caregiver (p<0.05), educational status of caregiver (p<0.001), sex of patient (p<0.05) and type of mental illness (p<0.05). Perceived stigma score varied significantly by caregiver’s sex (p<0.05), marital status (p<0.001), educational status (p<0.001), occupation (p<0.05), relation with the patient (p<0.005) and use of alternative treatment modalities (p<0.05).ConclusionSex of participant, educational status, sex of patient and type of mental illness were the correlates of attitude towards mental illness. Similarly, sex of participant, marital status, educational status, occupation, caregiver’s relation with patient and use of alternative treatment modalities were correlates of perceived stigma. Findings of this study suggest that interventions targeting these high-risk populations might be beneficial to help build a positive attitude and overcome the perceived social stigma.

Making it better

“…This suggests that persons with schizophrenia are more likely to engage in aggressive or violent behaviors than those without such conditions. Besides, prior studies regarding caregivers' perceptions of mental illness showed that caregivers described the person with mental illness as a violent person who needed to be controlled [22][23][24][25][26].…”

Opinions on mental illness from the perspective of primary care nurses in Portugal

“…Globally, it is estimated that more than 650 million people meet diagnostic criteria for mental illness, The most common are depression and anxiety (2) . Mental illnesses are often characterized by visible behavioral changes that can lead to negative attitudes, stereotypes and associated beliefs on the part of others (3)(4) .…”

“…Several authors highlight the stigma attached to this point of view (6)(7)(8)(9) . This stigma harms the person's biopsychosocial context, especially, his or her behavior towards the demand for health care (3).…”

“…Thus, they need to be aware that their attitudes influence the quality of care provided (11) . The positive attitude of nurses towards people with mental illness is an important indicator of results for the improvement of treatment and recovery, hence the relevance of understanding this phenomenon (3) .…”

Assess the attitude and perception regarding mental illness among the care givers of mentally ill patients

“…The conceptualization and perceived cause of mental illness varies from community to community. (Neupane et al, 2016) The perception of the community is dynamic and tends to change towards the mental illness.…”