Mental Health Attitudes in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Mental health is not openly discussed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and there is a dearth of research on this topic, particularly related to general mental well-being. A convenience sample recruited online of 281 people from urban, suburban, and rural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported their attitudes and knowledge about mental health and illness. Despite mental health being a publicly taboo topic to discuss, participants had fairly positive attitudes about mental health and illness. These findings differed by religion (ηp2 = .06) and nationality (ηp2 = .14). Participants who identified as agnostic or Muslim (as opposed to Catholic or Orthodox) had more positive attitudes toward people with mental health. Additionally, Serbian participants (versus Bosnian or Croats) expressed the least positive attitudes about mental health issues. Finally, younger people and more educated people had more positive attitudes about mental health (R2Adj = .10). This suggests cultural and religious differences in the ways that mental health is conceptualized and acknowledged.