Melkam Mamaru, Nakie Girum, Takelle Girmaw Medfu, Wassie Likinaw Abebaw, Shumet Shegaye
University of Gondar College of Medicine Health Science Department of Psychiatry, Ethiopia.
University of Gondar College of Medicine Health Science Department of Medical Nursing, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2024 Oct 18;10(20):e39512. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39512. eCollection 2024 Oct 30.
Mental illness is mental and emotional disturbances that affect individual thinking, feeling, decision-making, mood, and daily functioning. A poor attitude toward severe mental illness means an individual has a distorted perception or attitude toward severely mentally ill patients. Despite the presence of a high burden of negative attitudes toward severe mental illness, there is a limited study conducted on Ethiopian University students. Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the prevalence of poor attitudes toward severe mental illness and its associated factors among University Gondar medical students in Northwest Ethiopia.
An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was employed from Jun 25 to August 15, 2022. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to screen the attitudes of students toward severe mental illness. Mental Illness Clinician's Attitude fourth version and Mental Health Knowledge Schedule score tools were used to screen the attitude of students. Bi-variable logistic regression analysis was employed and variables with a p-value of less than 0.25 were entered into the multivariable logistic regression for further analysis. Factors with a p-value less than 0.05 at a 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) in the multivariable logistic regression analysis were considered statistically significantly associated.
From the total of 423 study participants with a 100 % response rate the overall prevalence of poor attitude towards severe mental illness among university students was 68.1 % with a 95 % CI (63.6-72.6). Age (18-24) [AOR = 2.47; 95 % CI: (1.37,4.45)], being male [AOR = 3.22; 95 % CI: (2.01-5.17)], from a rural area [AOR = 1.82; 95 % CI: (1.13-2.93)], and with no family history of mental illness [AOR = 2.07; 95 % CI: (1.12-3.82)] were statistically significantly associated factors with poor attitude towards severe mental illness.
and recommendations: Approximately three-fourths of university Gondar medical students (68.1 %) had poor attitudes towards severe mental illness. Age (18-24), being male, originating from a rural area, and with no family history of mental illness were significantly associated with a poor attitude toward severe mental illness. Awareness creation about mental illness can change the attitude of students which can be done by the mental health department to give as a common course can help the student to have a positive attitude.
精神疾病是指影响个体思维、情感、决策、情绪及日常功能的心理和情绪障碍。对严重精神疾病的不良态度意味着个体对严重精神疾病患者存在扭曲的认知或态度。尽管对严重精神疾病存在高度负面态度的负担，但针对埃塞俄比亚大学生的相关研究却很有限。因此，本研究旨在揭示埃塞俄比亚西北部贡德尔大学医学院学生中对严重精神疾病的不良态度及其相关因素的患病率。
采用基于机构的横断面研究设计，研究时间为2022年6月25日至8月15日。使用结构化的自填问卷来筛查学生对严重精神疾病的态度。采用《精神疾病临床医生态度》第四版和《心理健康知识量表》得分工具来筛查学生的态度。进行双变量逻辑回归分析，p值小于0.25的变量被纳入多变量逻辑回归进行进一步分析。在多变量逻辑回归分析中，95%置信区间（CI）内p值小于0.05的因素被认为具有统计学显著相关性。
在423名研究参与者中，回复率为100%，大学生中对严重精神疾病的不良态度总体患病率为68.1%，95%CI为（63.6 - 72.6）。年龄（18 - 24岁）[比值比（AOR）= 2.47；95%CI：（1.37, 4.45）]、男性[AOR = 3.22；95%CI：（2.01 - 5.17）]、来自农村地区[AOR = 1.82；95%CI：（1.13 - 2.93）]以及无精神疾病家族史[AOR = 2.07；95%CI：（1.12 - 3.82）]是与对严重精神疾病的不良态度具有统计学显著相关性的因素。
约四分之三的贡德尔大学医学院学生（68.1%）对严重精神疾病持不良态度。年龄（18 - 24岁）、男性、来自农村地区以及无精神疾病家族史与对严重精神疾病的不良态度显著相关。开展关于精神疾病的宣传可以改变学生的态度，这可以由心理健康部门作为一门公共课程来进行，有助于学生形成积极的态度。
