title: Attitudes towards people with mental illness among psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, involved family members and the general population in a large city in Guangzhou, China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Stigma towards people with mental illness is believed to be widespread in low and middle income countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study assessed the attitudes towards people with mental illness among psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, involved family members of patients in a psychiatric facility and the general public using a standard 43-item survey (N = 535). Exploratory factor analysis identified four distinctive attitudes which were then compared using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) among the four groups, all with ties to the largest psychiatric facility in Guangzhou, China, adjusting for sociodemographic differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four uncorrelated factors expressed preferences for 1) community-based treatment, social integration and a biopsychosocial model of causation, 2) direct personal relationships with people with mental illness, 3) a lack of fear and positive views of personal interactions with people with mental illness, 4) disbelief in superstitious explanations of mental illness. Statistically significant differences favored community-based treatment and biopsychosocial causation (factor 1) among professional groups (psychiatrists and nurses) as compared with family members and the general public (p < 0.001); while family members, unexpectedly, showed far weaker personal preferences for direct personal relationships with people with mental illness than all three other groups (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both psychiatrists and nurses showed greater support for social integration and biopsychosocial understandings of mental illness than the lay public, most likely because of their training and experience, while family members showed the least positive attitudes towards direct personal relationships with people with mental illness. These findings suggest support for a more extensive, formal system of care that gives family members some distance from the problems of their relatives and support in their care.
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Sun
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Ni
authors: N
authors: Fan
authors: Department of Nursing, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Sha
authors: S
authors: Nie
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Minglin
authors: M
authors: Zhang
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Xini
authors: X
authors: Huang
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Hongbo
authors: H
authors: He
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
authors: Robert A
authors: RA
authors: Rosenheck
keywords: Attitude; Mental Illness; Survey