Mental Health Knowledge and Social Distancing Among Clinical Nurses: the Mediating Role of Stigma in Mental Illness/a Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The stigma of mental illness has a negative impact on nurses and their patients. Most current research explores the impact of single factors on stigma and does not explore the relationship between knowledge, social distance and stigma among clinical nurses. Methods: Based on the knowledge, attitude, belief and practice model, to study the current status of mental illness stigma among caregivers and to analyse the relationship between mental illness stigma, social distancing, and mental health knowledge among nurses. A random sample was used to study 628 nurses.The study was conducted in five hospitals in Jinzhou and Dalian. A general information questionnaire, Scale for Assessing the Stigma of Mental Illness in Nursing, the Social Distance Scale and the Mental Health and Mental Health Knowledge Questionnaire were included. With mental health knowledge as the independent variable (X), social distance of mental illness as the dependent variable(Y), and stigma of mental illness among clinical nurses as the mediating variable (M), the mediation effect was analyzed. Results: The Scale for Assessing the Stigma of Mental Illness in Nursing score was 58.96±9.38 points, the violence/dangerousness dimension score was 22.68±5.71 points, the disability dimension score was 14.64±3.54 points, the irresponsibility and lack of competence dimension score was 21.64±3.83 points, and the mean scores of psychiatric and general nurses were 58.39±8.90 and 56.97±10.36 points, respectively. The stigma of mental illness, social distance and mental health knowledge of nurses were positively correlated (p<0.01). Stigma indirectly affected the social distance between the clinical nurses and mental health patients (β=0.016, P=0.000), and to some extent, stigma influenced the effect of mental health knowledge on social distancing among clinical nurses (β=0.123, P=0.008). Conclusions: The stigma attached to mental illness by the clinical nurses was moderate and the main mediating effect between mental health knowledge and social distancing. Clinical nurses should integrate disciplinary knowledge, increase the mastery of knowledge, enrich the multidisciplinary nursing experience, reduce stigma through multiple channels, and provide a quality nursing environment for the recovery and prognosis of mental health patients.