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Evaluation of the effect of mental health training of primary health care workers on attitudes towards mental illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

O. Buhari ,
A.J. Ogunmodede  and
O. Adegunloye
O. Buhari*
Affiliation:
Dept Of Behavioural Sciences, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN & University OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, ILORIN, Nigeria
A.J. Ogunmodede
Affiliation:
Dept Of Behavioural Sciences, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, Ilorin, Nigeria
O. Adegunloye
Affiliation:
Dept Of Behavioural Sciences, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN & University OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, ILORIN, Nigeria
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO) set a target of task shifting as a means of achieving improved mental health services within the community as a means of tackling the unmet needs of mental health care. Primary health care workers (PHCWs) have been identified as essential to achieving this goal.

Objectives

This study was to identify attitudes and beliefs of PHCWs on mental illness, and to assess the effect of a mental health training on these attitudes and beliefs.

Methods

The attitude towards mental illness (ASMI) scale was administered on 91 PHCWs pre- and post- a 4 day training on mental health to assess change in attitude across 6 domains.

Results

Our findings revealed significant positive change in four domains, namely separatism (p = < 0.001), restrictiveness (p = < 0.001), benevolence (p = p =< 0.001) and stigmatization (p = < 0.001). The changes in stereotyping (p = 0.475) and pessimistic prediction (p = 0.056) domains were not clinically significant.

Conclusions

Primary health care workers’ negative attitude and stigmatizing beliefs can be improved upon via regular enlightenment programmes and training. This can be done at regular intervals

Keywords

Primary health care workers (PHCWs)attitudeMental health trainingMental illness
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S394
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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