[Levels of common knowledge on common psychiatric disorders and therapeutic means taken in general population: effects of education level and living area].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the differences in level of common knowledge toward common psychiatric disorders and means of therapy in general population, resulting from different education levels and living areas.


METHODS
All 4,614 persons over 15 years of age recruited from general population in Zhejiang Province via stratified randomly sampling, were classified by education levels as illiteracy, primary school level, high school level, and college level. Each group was thus divided into two categories according to the person's living areas, ie urban and rural area. The level of common knowledge about psychosis and means of therapy were measured by a questionnaire administered to all subjects.


RESULTS
The rate of knowledge of neurasthenic was the highest, reaching to 71.1%, then of knowledge of schizophrenia and depression, was 47.9% and 39.3% respectively, and the rate of knowledge of alcohol dependence, mania and obsessive-compulsive disorder was lower than 20%. The rate of knowledge of the 6 common psychiatric disorders was higher in people from urban area, than from rural areas. The rate of knowledge of common psychiatric disorders was increased correspondingly to the increase of the education level among the people residing at the same living area. The main means of therapy the people selected was western medicine and psychology, reaching at 24.0% and 34.8% respectively. There were significant differences among the people with different education levels but from the same living areas, and the people with lower education levels were likely to choose the therapy of western medicine, on the other hand, the people with higher education levels were tending to choose the therapy of psychology.


CONCLUSIONS
The popularization of the knowledge and the education about mental health should be reinforced, as to improving the knowledge about mental health, choosing a correct means of therapy to the common psychiatric disorders and promoting the mental health status of the population.
Xu
Yi
Y
Department of Mental Health, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China.
Cai
Wei
W
Hu
Jian-bo
JB
Shi
Qi-chang
QC
Li
Lu
L
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult