Attitudes towards Mental Illness between Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Ph.D Students from Northern India

Abstract

Young adults are important members of the community; hence their attitude towards mental illness can be highly influential. Individuals with mental illness suffering from the illness they also face stigmatizing attitude generated by the community. Mental health disorders and stigma prevail in our society, it is important to understand the attitude and knowledge of various groups to increase the mental health literacy through using all means of education. The aim of this study is to understand the attitudes towards mental illness among undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D Students from Northern India. A cross sectional online study for students pursuing various courses in different stream was carried. A specifically designed Google form was circulated through social media platforms. It was containing information about the study with the request for participating in the research and further circulation among other groups. It was divided in two parts 1) Basic Demographic information of the participants and 2) 40 questions from community attitude of Mental illness and two attitude questions were included. A total of 232 students were participated in this study. 30.2% were Undergraduate, 64.7% were Post graduate and 5.2% of them were Ph.D Scholars, with the approximate 25.42 year age, 37.1% of them were males and 62.5 were female. CAMI mean score of Authoritarianism is 26.83, Benevolence mean is 37.88, Social restrictiveness mean is 23.95 and mean of community mental health ideology is 37.08, indicative of negative attitude toward mental illness among students. Almost all the participants accept the need treatment for mentally illness. Due to difference in Knowledge attitude and behavior, It is important to initiate awareness campaigns all over the country and especially in schools colleges to prepare a more knowledgeable and open-minded society.

Keywords: Knowledge, students, mental illness