Minty Yumna, Moosa Mahomed Y H, Jeenah Fatima Y
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
S Afr J Psychiatr. 2021 May 31;27:1592. doi: 10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v27i0.1592. eCollection 2021.
An increasing number of South Africans utilise primary healthcare services (either in the state or private sector) for mental health concerns; hence, there is a need to objectively assess these doctors' attitudes and knowledge of mental illness.
To investigate aspects of knowledge and attitudes towards mental illness of a group of private and state-employed non-specialist medical doctors.
Doctors in the state sector who were working at a primary healthcare level and who were not working towards, or did not hold, a specialist qualification were considered eligible for the study. Doctors in the private sector who were working as general practitioners and who did not hold a specialist qualification were considered eligible for the study. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. A link to the study questionnaire, information about the study, details of the researcher and matters pertaining to informed consent were emailed to potential participants.
Of the 140 practitioners who responded to the survey, 51.4% ( = 72) worked in the state sector, 41.4% ( = 58) worked in the private sector and 7.1% ( = 10) worked in both the state and private sectors (χ = 45.31, < 0.010). The majority (> 50%) of participants in all three groups had a positive attitude towards mental illness (χ = 1.52, = 0.468). Although there were no significant associations between attitude and socio-demographic characteristics ( > 0.05), male SS doctors reported feeling less comfortable when dealing with mentally ill patients ( = 0.015); SS doctors who did not have family contact with mental illness were less likely to feel that mentally ill patients did not pose a risk to others ( = 0.007), and PS doctors under the age of 35 years were more likely to feel adequately trained to treat mental illness ( = 0.026). The majority (> 50%) of participants in all three groups had an adequate level of knowledge of mental illness (modal scores = 10). There were no significant associations between knowledge and socio-demographic characteristics ( > 0.05).
Despite the findings of a positive attitude and adequate knowledge of mental illness amongst the participants of this study, it is recommended that more targeted interventions are established to further improve mental health awareness and knowledge of doctors at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels of study.
越来越多的南非人因心理健康问题而利用初级医疗保健服务（无论是在公共部门还是私营部门）；因此，有必要客观评估这些医生对精神疾病的态度和知识。
调查一组受雇于公共部门和私营部门的非专科医生对精神疾病的知识和态度方面的情况。
在初级医疗保健层面工作且未致力于获得或未持有专科资格的公共部门医生被认为符合该研究的条件。作为全科医生且未持有专科资格的私营部门医生被认为符合该研究的条件。数据通过自我管理的问卷收集。研究问卷的链接、关于该研究的信息、研究人员的详细信息以及与知情同意相关的事项通过电子邮件发送给潜在参与者。
在回复调查的140名从业者中，51.4%（n = 72）在公共部门工作，41.4%（n = 58）在私营部门工作，7.1%（n = 10）在公共部门和私营部门都工作（χ² = 45.31，p < 0.010）。所有三组中的大多数（> 50%）参与者对精神疾病持积极态度（χ² = 1.52，p = 0.468）。尽管态度与社会人口统计学特征之间没有显著关联（p > 0.05），但男性公共部门医生报告在处理精神病患者时感觉不太自在（p = 0.015）；与精神疾病没有家庭接触的公共部门医生不太可能认为精神病患者不会对他人构成风险（p = 0.007），并且35岁以下的私营部门医生更有可能觉得自己接受了足够的培训来治疗精神疾病（p = 0.
