Predictors of neighbors’ attitudes toward persons with mental illness and therapeutic residential services in Brazil.

Abstract

As a result of the psychiatric deinstitutionalization in Brazil, the care provided to persons with mental illness was transferred to community mental health services and residential settings called Therapeutic Residential Services (TRS). Positive attitudes of people toward them, especially those of neighbors, became important to facilitating their social reintegration and reducing stigma. This study is pioneering, as no quantitative study addressing the neighbors’ attitudes of TRS has been previously conducted in Brazil. There is only a Brazilian study validating the scale Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI-BR; Abelha et al., 2015). In order to identify predictors of positive attitudes toward persons with mental illness and TRS, a stratified random sample of 110 neighbors from a medium-sized city in Minas Gerais was interviewed using the CAMI-BR scale and a questionnaire addressing sociodemographic and mental health information. Multivariate analysis revealed, as predictors of neighbors’ positive attitudes, the variables concerning higher educational level, and information and contact with mental illness and information about a TRS installation near one’s home. Consistent with the literature, these results indicate a need to develop strategies to educate the population about mental illness and community mental health services and to promote contact with them to reduce stigma, increase positive attitudes. and improve their reintegration into the community.