Training primary care health workers in mental health care: evaluation of attitudes towards mental illness before and after training.

One hundred and fifty primary care paramedical health workers who underwent a short term training in mental health care were evaluated to understand their attitudes towards mental health before, and immediately after, the training course. The trainees showed a significant change in attitudes in the desirable direction towards different mental health problems. Baseline attitude of health workers was not related to age, sex, level of education or duration of their professional service. However, health workers with low baseline attitude scores registered a significantly higher gain. Item analysis revealed that 10 of the 35 items of the attitude questionnaire failed to reveal significant post training changes.