Sawsan Hammad Abuhammad
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM), USA
Title: Nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes and stigmatizing behaviors towards people with mental illness in Jordan
Biography
Biography: Sawsan Hammad Abuhammad
Abstract
Background: According to the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH), more than 20 percent of Jordanians are purported to suffer from some kind of mental health disorder; however, many do not receive appropriate treatment. The public’s perceptions of mental illness, knowledge of mental illness and negative attitudes held by healthcare professionals are critical factors to understand in developing and implementing culturally appropriate mental healthcare in Jordan. To this end, undergraduate nursing students are an important population to study and train on how best to provide essential healthcare to their patients.
Purpose: The objectives of this were to: (a) explore the knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate nursing students in Irbid, Jordan regarding mental illness, (b) describe stigmatizing and devaluation perceptions among undergraduate nursing students toward mentally ill patients; and (c) examine relationships between knowledge and attitudes of the students, while controlling selected variables relative to stigma.
Study Design: Cross-sectional survey descriptive design was employed. All study protocols were reviewed and approved by the university Institutional Review Boards for both universities.
Participants: Participants included undergraduate Arabic speaking students nursing (N = 169) enrolled in the school of nursing at a large science and technology university in Irbid, Jordan. Participants ranged in ages (18yrs-40 years; mean age = 20.8 years; SD = 2.20). These students were recruited from all college levels. Participants were predominantly females (73.4%) and 88.2% reported being single. Data were collected from participants on (a) Knowledge level of mental illness (b) Attitudes toward the mentally ill; (c) Stigmatization and (d) Sociodemographic information.
Data Collection and Analysis: A combination of strategies were used in recruiting participants for the study. Generally, the survey questionnaire was distributed and self-administered to students at various times in a class room. Students also took the survey with them to their dorms, completed the survey and dropped them in a box in front of the third author’s office door. The data was analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS, version 24).
Results: There were varying perspectives held by the undergraduate nursing students in study related to their knowledge about mental illness and attitudes towards individuals who are mentally ill. The following findings is summarized from the study. (a) Less than half identified Depression, Schizophrenia and Bipolar conditions as mental illnesses; their knowledge level of mental illness was at its highest level in their second year of college. The total knowledge score for the scale used in this study was 35.74 (SD =10.72) resulting from an average score less than agreement (2.52 to 2.9 for items on the scale). (b) Most students in the study expressed positive attitudes toward people with mental illness. For example, (72%) did not view entering a mental hospital as a sign of personal failure. Forty percent believed they would hire a formal mental patient and treat them the same as any employee (43%). (c) Students felt that people with mental disease tend to be harmful, childlike and cold hearted. Although students expressed these stigmatizing attitudes toward the mentally ill, they indicated that people with mental should be given and receive appropriate treatment regardless of their behavior.
Conclusion: Identifying nursing students’ attitudes and biases towards individuals with mental illness is an appropriate initial first step to developing appropriate educational programs to help train future nurses in working with sensitively with their patients. Case studies approach that uses stories from those patients that are mentally ill could be used to help provide better perspectives on mental illness for the students.