Health service staff's attitudes towards patients with mental illness.
BACKGROUND
Stereotypes and prejudices against patients with mental illness are widespread in many societies. The aim of the present study is to investigate such attitudes among the staff and medical students, including employees and trainees, in a general university hospital.


METHODS
Six hundred individuals (361 employees, 231 students) completed the following questionnaires: Level of Contact Report (LCR), Authoritarianism Scale (AS), and Opinion about Mental Illness (OMI), a scale yielding five factors (social discrimination, social restriction, social care, social integration, and aetiology). Multivariate linear regression models were applied in order to search for the simultaneous effect of many variables on the scores of OMI factors.


RESULTS
An important part of the sample held negative attitudes especially concerning social discrimination and restriction of the patients. Women, older and less educated staff, nursing staff, and people scoring higher on authoritarianism were more prejudiced. Higher scores on familiarity were associated with less negative attitudes.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate the need to develop sensitisation and training programs considering mental health topics among health service employees.
Arvaniti
Aikaterini
A
Dept. of Psychiatry, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Samakouri
Maria
M
Kalamara
Eleni
E
Bochtsou
Valentini
V
Bikos
Constantinos
C
Livaditis
Miltos
M
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001318:Authoritarianism; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011287:Prejudice; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013240:Stereotyping; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires