Evaluation of the stigmatizing attitudes of university students in front of people with mental disorders

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i10.32507

Keywords:

Social stigma; Mental disorders; Students.

Abstract

The stigma related to mental disorders is considered a dimension to be valued and corresponds to a negative perception, resulting from anticipated judgments or erroneous knowledge. Thus, this research aimed to evaluate the attitudes of academics from eight health courses towards people with mental disorders. It is a transversal and quantitative research, with descriptive and analytical approaches. Data collection was carried out at a Federal University in northeastern Brazil, through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire and a scale validated by the Attribution Questionnaire - AQ27. In addition, it was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The sample consisted of 328 students, 52.1% from the first cycle and 47.9% from the last cycle and 75.6% stated that they had not taken a mental health course. Regarding the AQ27, he observed scores of moderate to low stigma and some courses stood out, such as Occupational Therapy with less stigmatizing attitudes and Speech Therapy with the highest. Most of the students were from the first cycle and from Physiotherapy. In addition, stigmatization was present in most courses. Therefore, it can be inferred that stigma is related to several aspects, mainly, with academic education constituting a barrier in the assistance of these future professionals.

References

Aruna, G., Mittal, S., Yadiyal, M.B., Acharya, C., Acharya S. & Uppulari, C. (2016). Perception, knowledge, and attitude toward mental disorders and psychiatry among medical undergraduates in Karnataka: A cross sectional study. Indian J Psychiatry, Indian, 58, 70-6.

Barbosa, T. R. S. (2010). Estigma face à doença mental por parte de futuros profissionais de saúde mental. 2010. Dissertação de mestrado (Psicologia da Saúde). Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto, Portugal,

Barrantes, J. F., Violante, C., Graça, L. & Amorim, I. (2017). Programa de Luta contra o estigma: resultados obtidos na formação nos profissionais de saúde mental. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental, 5(especial), 19-24.

Bell, J. S., Aaltonen, S. E., Bronstein, E., Desplenter, F.A., Foulon, V., Vitola, A. Muceniece, R., Gharat, M. S., Volmer, D., Airaksinen, M. S. & Chen, T. F. (2008). Attitudes of pharmacy students toward people with mental disorders, a six country study. Pharm World Sci, 30(5), 595-599.

Chang, S., Ong, H. L., Seow, E., Chua, B. Y., Abdin, E., Samari, E., The, W. L., Chong, S. A. & Subramaniam, M. (2017). Stigma towards mental illness among medical and nursing students in Singapore: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 7(12), e018099.

Cooper, A., Corrigan, P. & Watson, A. (2003). Mental Illness Stigma and Care Seeking. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 339-341.

Coordenação Nacional para a Saúde Mental. (2012). Programa Nacional para a saúde mental: Orientações Programáticas. Lisboa, Portugal: Direção Geral de Saúde.

Corrigan, P. W., Morris, S. B., Michaels, P.J., Rafacz, J. D. & Rüsh, N. (2012). Challenging the public stigma of mental illness: A meta-analysis of outcome studies. Psychiatric Services, 63, 963–973.

Corrigan, P. & Watson, A. (2007). The stigma of psychiatric disorders and the gender, ethnicity, and education of the perceiver. Community Mental Health Journal, 43(5), 439-458.

Ferreira, F. N., Fernandinho, D. C., Souza, G. R. M., Ibrahim, T. F., Fukino, A. S. L., Araújo, N. C. & Vidal, C. E. L. (2015). Avaliação das Atitudes de Estudantes da Área da Saúde em relação a Pacientes Esquizofrênicos. Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica, 39(4), 542-557.

Fresán, A., Robles-García, R., Martínez-López, N., Tovilla-Zárate, C.A. & Madrigal, E. (2018). Stigma and perceived aggression towards schizophrenia in female students of medicine and psychology. Salud Mental, 41(5), 207-212.

Hinshaw, S. P. & Stier, A. (2008). Stigma as related to mental disorders. Annu Rev Clin Psychol, 4, 367-393.

Korszun, A., Dinos, S., Ahmed, K. & Bhui, K. (2012). Medical student attitudes about mental illness: does medical-school education reduce stigma? Acad Psychiatry, 36(3), 197–204.

Lim, H.J., Moxham, L., Patterson, C., Perlman, D., Lopez, V. & Goh Y.S. (2019). Students' mental health clinical placements, clinical confidence and stigma surrounding mental illness: A correlational study. Nurse Education Today, 84, 104219.

Lyons, Z. & Hood, S. Stigmatisation of mental illness and its impact on recruitment of medical students to a career in psychiatry. ERP, 38(2), 20–34.

Oliveira, A. & Azevedo, S. (2014). Estigma na doença mental: Estudo observacional. Revista Portuguesa de Medicina Geral e Familiar, 30(4), 227-234.

Pereira, A. De A., Santos, S. M. E. & De Faria, R. M. D. (2016). Versão brasileira do attribution questionnaire - Adaptação transcultural e validação de propriedades psicométricas. Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 65(4), 314–321.

Poreddi, V., Thimmaiah, R. & Math, B. S. (2017). Medical and nursing students’ attitudes toward mental illness: An Indian perspective. Investigación y Educación en Enfermería, 34(1), 86-94.

Querido, A., Tomás, C. & Carvalho, D. (2016). O Estigma face à doença mental nos estudantes de saúde. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental, 3(especial), 67-72.

Sari, S. P. & Yuliastuti, E. (2018). Investigation of attitudes toward mental illness among nursing students in Indonesia. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 5(4), 414-418.

Sousa, S., Queirós, C., Marques, A., Rocha, N. & Fernandes, A. (2008). Versão preliminar portuguesa do Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27). Porto, Portugal: Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências de Educação da Universidade do Porto/ESTSP-IPP.

Stuart, H. & Arboleda-Flórez, J. (2001). Community attitudes toward people with schizophrenia. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 46(3), 245-252.

Thornicroft, G., Rose, D. & Kassam, A. (2007). Stigma: ignorance, prejudice or discrimination. British J Psychiat, 190, 192-93.

Townsend, M. C. (2011). Essentials of psychiatric mental health nursing: concepts of care in evidence-based practice. F.A. Davis Company, 5.

World Health Organization. (2016). WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). Who, Geneva.

Yamauchi, T., Semba, T., Sudo, A., Takahashi, N., Nakamura, H., Yoshimura, K., Koyama, H., Ishigami, S. & Takeshima, T. (2011). Effects of psychiatric training on nursing students’ attitudes towards people with mental illness in Japan. Int J Soc Psychiatry, 57(6), 574-9.

Yang, L. H., Kleinman, A., Link, B.G., Phelan, J. C., Lee, S. & Good, B. (2007). Culture and stigma: adding moral experience to stigma theory. Social Science & Medicine, 64(7), 1524-1535.

Yuksel, G., Yildiz, M. & Coskun, B. (2019). Medical faculty students’ beliefs toward mental illness and the impact of visiting a community mental health center on these beliefs. Dusunen Adam The Journal of Psychiatry an Neurological Sciences, 32, 152-60.

Published

23/07/2022

How to Cite

SANTANA, I. G. L. .; CARVALHO, L. S. .; FREITAS, C. K. A. C. .; MEDEIROS, A. de A. .; SANTOS, A. de J. .; SANTOS, B. G. de A. .; BARREIRO, M. do S. C. .; MELO, M. S. .; SANTOS, T. S. .; SILVA, G. M. . Evaluation of the stigmatizing attitudes of university students in front of people with mental disorders. Research, Society and Development, [S. l.], v. 11, n. 10, p. e80111032507, 2022. DOI: 10.33448/rsd-v11i10.32507. Disponível em: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/32507. Acesso em: 14 nov. 2024.

Issue

Section

Health Sciences