title: Ethnic differences in the knowledge, attitude and beliefs towards mental illness in a traditional fast developing country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the study was to examine the ethnic differences in knowledge, attitude and practice towards mental illness in a sample of Qatari and non-Qatari Arabs.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross sectional survey conducted in Primary Health Care centers, Qatar from October to June 2009. A representative sample of 3000 Qatari and non-Qatari Arabs above 20 years of age were approached and 2514 subjects (83.8%) gave consent to participate in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than non-Qatari Arabs, a significant proportion of Qataris thought that mental illness can be a punishment from God (44.5% vs 50.6%; p=0.002) and that people with mental illness are mentally retarded (35.1% vs 45.1%; p<0.001). Qatari nationals had a poor knowledge about causes of mental illness compared to non-Qatari Arabs such as a belief that mental illness is due to possession of evil spirits (40.5% vs 37.6%) and psychiatric medication will cause addiction (61% vs 57.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study revealed that there is an ethnic diversity within Arab societies in their knowledge, attitude and practice towards mental illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital and Hamad, Dept. of Public Health, Medical Corporation & Weill Cornell Medical College, PO Box 3050, Doha- State of Qatar. abener@hmc.org.qa
authors.forename: Abdulbari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bener
authors.forename: Suhaila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghuloum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011780:Qatar; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires