[Attitudes of primary care health staff to the mentally ill patient, psychiatry and the mental health team].
OBJECTIVE
To measure the reliability of a questionnaire on attitudes and knowledge of mental health and the mental health team (MHT). To find out what these attitudes are and their associations with demographic and work variables.


METHODS
Observational, transversal.


METHODS
Primary care (PC) centres in an urban environment.


METHODS
Health staff (n=141) of PC centres whose mental health centres (MHC) for referral are in an area of Guipuzcoa.


METHODS
Self-administered, anonymous questionnaire including a section with social, demographic and work data. Survey including items on attitudes towards the mentally ill, psychiatry, the MHCs, staff's perception of their own knowledge and their attitude towards attending courses on the subject.


RESULTS
The reply rate was 70%. The factorial analysis had 5 factors whose measurements and scores were: "attendance at courses", 30.8 (8-40); "knowledge", 17.5 (7-35); "more treatment", 12.2 (6-30); "less treatment", 14.4 (5-25); "care through the MHC", 11.5 (4-20). The internal consistency of the 5 scales was 0.95, 0.92, 0.85, 0.83, and 0.65, respectively. 13% did not think you had to be on the look out for the mentally ill.


CONCLUSIONS
No negative attitude towards the mentally ill was perceived. PC health staff perceived their lack of psychiatric knowledge and that they did not have sufficient dealings with the MHC, and showed good predisposition towards improving both questions.
Arrillaga Arizaga
M
M
Centro de Salud de Lesaka, Navarra, España. maitearrillaga@mixmail.com
Sarasqueta Eizaguirre
C
C
Ruiz Feliu
M
M
Sánchez Etxeberria
A
A
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011570:Psychiatry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires