Zolezzi Monica, Bensmail Nawal, Zahrah Farah, Khaled Salma Mawfek, El-Gaili Tayseer
Clinical Pharmacy and Practice.
College of Pharmacy.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2017 May 9;13:1221-1233. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S132075. eCollection 2017.
Stigma in relation to mental illness is one of the main factors inhibiting people from seeking help. Studies have been undertaken looking into the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs (KAB) about mental illness among residents in Qatar; however, none have looked specifically at students in higher education. The aim of this study was to understand the KAB toward mental illness among students at a Qatari university and determine if there are any differences based on gender, nationality, and college type.
A convenience sample of students from all genders, colleges, and nationalities was approached to participate in a survey that consisted of four sections: demographic, beliefs, attitudes, and help-seeking and treatment preferences associated with mental illness. Chi-square testing was performed to test for differences in the distribution of proportions of our primary outcomes (students' beliefs, attitudes, and help-seeking and treatment preferences).
A total of 282 students completed the survey. The majority of the participating students were females (59.3%), non-Qataris (64.3%), and enrolled in science-based colleges (62.7%). Beliefs reflecting poor mental health literacy, such as "medications to treat mental illness can cause addiction", "mental illness is not like any other illness", or that "mental illness is a punishment from God", were reported by a majority of students (84.4%, 56.7%, and 50.2%, respectively). Stigmatizing attitudes that were endorsed by a majority of students included believing that people with mental illness cannot have regular jobs (60.2%), that people with mental illness are dangerous (65.7%), and that they would not marry someone with a mental illness (88.9%). Additionally, 33.6% of students indicated they would be ashamed to mention if someone in their family or they themself, had a mental illness. A vast majority of students (86.3%) indicated to prefer family and friend's support as treatment options. Significant differences in KAB about mental illness between genders, colleges, and college type were found only for a few items.
The findings of this study suggest that a high percentage of students reported KAB about mental illness, that are considered stigmatizing. Students' KAB about mental illness was consistent with that reported by the general population in Qatar. Nevertheless, the sample was small and as such, larger studies from a randomly selected population are needed to confirm these findings.
与精神疾病相关的污名化是阻碍人们寻求帮助的主要因素之一。已经开展了一些研究，调查卡塔尔居民对精神疾病的知识、态度和信念（KAB）；然而，尚无研究专门针对高等教育阶段的学生。本研究的目的是了解卡塔尔一所大学学生对精神疾病的KAB，并确定是否存在基于性别、国籍和学院类型的差异。
选取了来自不同性别、学院和国籍的学生作为便利样本，邀请他们参与一项调查，该调查包括四个部分：人口统计学信息、信念、态度以及与精神疾病相关的求助和治疗偏好。进行卡方检验以检验我们主要结果（学生的信念、态度以及求助和治疗偏好）比例分布的差异。
共有282名学生完成了调查。参与调查的学生中，大多数为女性（59.3%）、非卡塔尔人（64.3%），且就读于理科类学院（62.7%）。大多数学生（分别为84.4%、56.7%和50.2%）报告了反映心理健康素养较低的信念，例如“治疗精神疾病的药物会导致成瘾”、“精神疾病与其他疾病不同”或“精神疾病是上帝的惩罚”。大多数学生认可的污名化态度包括认为患有精神疾病的人不能从事正常工作（60.2%）、患有精神疾病的人很危险（65.7%）以及他们不会与患有精神疾病的人结婚（88.9%）。此外，33.6%的学生表示，如果他们的家人或他们自己患有精神疾病，他们会羞于提及。绝大多数学生（86.3%）表示更喜欢家人和朋友的支持作为治疗选择。仅在少数项目中发现了不同性别、学院和学院类型之间关于精神疾病的KAB存在显著差异。
本研究结果表明，高比例的学生报告了被认为具有污名化性质的关于精神疾病的KAB。学生对精神疾病的KAB与卡塔尔普通人群报告的情况一致。然而，样本量较小，因此，需要从随机选取的人群中进行更大规模的研究来证实这些发现。
