Study of Social Distance and Knowledge on Attitude toward Mental Illness in University Students

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Mental illness was one of the major health problems in modern society. The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge, social distance, and attitude toward mental illness in university students, determine correlation among these variables, and analyze their effects on the attitude toward them mental illness. It intended to identify the factors for the attitude toward mental illness and provide basic data that could help develop research and programs to form positive attitude toward them.Method/Statistical Analysis: Participants were 482 university students in G metropolitan city. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS/win 23.0 program. The general characteristics of the subjects were frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Data were analyzed with independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis.Findings: The participants were aged 21.89 ± 3.20 on average, 72.7% were female. The most frequent major was public health 48.1%, followed by science and engineering 37.1%, humanities 10.7%, and art 42.0 %. The most frequent channel of getting information about mental illness was media 41.5%, followed by voluntary service 26.8%, practical training 10.6%, someone around them 10.6%, education 6.4%, a mental illness person 4.1%.The level of knowledge was 10.52 ± 2.04, the minimum value was 0.00, and the maximum value was 15.00. Social distance was 2.61 ± 0.56, the minimum value was 1.00, and the maximum value was 4.67. Attitude toward mental illness was 3.59 ± 0.35, the minimum value was 2.88, and the maximum value was 4.70. The mean score of knowledge was 10.52 out of 15.00, social distance was2.61out of 5.00 and attitude toward mental illness was 3.59 out of 5.00.Attitude toward mental illness was positively correlated with knowledge (r=.212, p<.001) and was negatively correlated with social distance (r=-.603, p<.001). The more knowledgeable and shorter the social distance was the more positive attitudes toward mental illness. The stepwise regression analysis found that knowledge (β=.195, p<.001), social distance (β=-.590, p<.001), and having a mental illness person around (β=.075, p=.039), significantly affected the attitude toward mental illness, with the variables accounting for 40.5%.Improvements/Applications: It has confirmed that correct knowledge and decrease in social distance are factors for positive attitude toward mental illness in the respect of research. Further studies are necessary to develop an effective educational and experiential program that can help get knowledge and reduce social distance.