Understanding of mental health-related stigma among people in urban Kolkata

Abstract

Background: Mental health-care settings are not equipped to address holistic care. . Being a program manager, one needs to have good understanding about different barriers of access to mental healthcare services. Poor awareness and stigma attached to mental health are two important barriers of a community-based mental healthcare intervention. There is a dearth of studies that provide information about this. The present study reflects the same. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess people's knowledge about mental health and perceived stigma and to identify factors that influence them. Methods: The study was conducted under two types of intervention wards – one with urban mental health program (UMHP) and another one with homeless people with mental illness (HPMI). There was a comparison ward with no intervention. Information was collected from 272 respondents through multistage random sampling method from general community. Analysis was done using profile characters of participants as independent variables and knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) score and stigma score as dependent variables. Results: The mean KAP score is 25.5 (range: 13–32). It implies 65.3% cumulative KAP level on mental health. Around 29.9% of people believe that going to a psychiatrist means that a person has mental illness. KAP and stigma scores are influenced by the type of ward but not by any other profile characters. KAP score is higher in UMHP and HPMI wards than the comparison ward. Conclusion: The intervention wards have more KAP score than comparison ward implying the effectiveness of community-based mental health interventions. This calls for replication of similar interventions for wider spread of knowledge on mental health among general population.