Social Distance Towards Mental Illness Among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in a Nigerian University.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the level of social distance towards people with mental illness among pharmacy students in a Nigerian university and to explore its associated factors.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 433 pharmacy students in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The 8-item Social Distance Scale was used to assess an individuals' avoidance reaction directed towards people with mental disorder. Descriptive statistics, Student's test, and multivariate logistic regression were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, the students demonstrated a low social distance towards people with mental illness. Lower social distance towards people with mental disorder was associated with younger students (p = 0.006) and students who have had contact with a person with mental illness (p = 0.026), who have visited a mental hospital (p = 0.019), who have experienced mental illness (p = 0.028), and who know a family member or friend with mental illness (p = 0.015). Independent predictors for high social distance towards people with mental illness were age of ≥25 years (odds ratio = 1.488, p = 0.046) and no prior visit to a mental hospital (odds ratio = 2.676, p = 0.016).

CONCLUSION

Our pharmacy students had a low social distance towards people with mental illness. Predictors for the low social distance were younger age and previous visits to a mental hospital. We recommend more robust educational and training programme, and increased exposure to clinical clerkship in psychiatry to improve social distance towards people with mental illness among pharmacy students.