Abstract
Background: Mental illness affects cognition, emotion, and behavior of an individual. It accounts for 13% of the global burden of diseases. About 76% and 85% of people in low and middle-income countries with severe mental illness did not receive treatment due to fear of expected discrimination and stigma to diagnosed people with mental illness. There are no published works on the attitude of the community in this study area. This study aimed to assess the attitude and its’ predictors towards mental illness among residents of Mertule Mariam town, Ethiopia 2017. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2017. Data were collected from 964 participants using Community Attitude to Mental Illness Inventory (CAMI). Data were entered using epi-info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the associated factors to attitude. Result: The response rate was 98.2% with the sex distribution of 58.5% (554) males. The attitudes of the community were more authoritarian (52.8%), less benevolent (52.3%), more socially restrictive (38.8%) and positive to mental health service (59.2%). Age [AOR=2.50, CI 1.56-4.23, P-value= 0.001], educational level, occupational status, getting information about mental illness, and knowing someone who has mental illness have been significantly associated to authoritarianism. Age (18-24) [AOR=3.08(1.5-6.3) p-value=0.002], educational status, occupational status and getting information about mental illness were the significant variables for benevolence subscale. Age, marital status, getting information about mental illness [AOR=0.02, CI 0.05-0.75, P-value <0.05], sources of information were significant variables for social restrictiveness subscale. Marital status, occupational status, history of mental illness, relationship with mentally ill, and involved in caring for mentally ill [1.85(1.28-2.65)**] were significantly associated factors for community mental health ideology. Conclusion and recommendation: The findings of this study showed that the attitude of residents of Mertule Mariam town was more authoritarian (undermining), less benevolent, less socially restrictive (less socially avoidant) and more positive for mental health service. The positive attitude of the participant was associated with getting information about mental illness. Using mass media and health institutions to disseminate information about mental health is essential to improve the attitude of the community.
An exploration of perceived coercion into psychological assessment and treatment within a low secure forensic mental health service
