Beliefs about schizophrenia and its treatment in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
BACKGROUND
Lay beliefs about schizophrenia have been extensively studied in cross-cultural settings, but research on ethnic differences are currently lacking.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined beliefs about the manifestations, causes and cures of schizophrenia in a multi-ethnic sample from Malaysia.


METHODS
In this study, 561 Malay, Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun participants rated 72 statements about schizophrenia on a 7-point scale.


RESULTS
Results showed that Malaysians tended to favour social-environmental explanations for schizophrenia. There were also ethnic and sex differences in these results. Specifically, Malay participants more strongly agreed that schizophrenia has a social cause, that treatment should affect changes at a societal level, that schizophrenic behaviour is sinful and that mental hospitals do not provide effective treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
Lay beliefs about schizophrenia may serve different functions for different ethno-cultural groups, which have an influence on help-seeking behaviour.
Swami
Viren
V
Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK. virenswami@hotmail.com
Furnham
Adrian
A
Kannan
Kumaraswami
K
Sinniah
Dhachayani
D
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003469:Culture; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D044382:Population Groups / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018599:Witchcraft