Health Professionals’ Stigma towards the Psychiatric Ill in Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Stigma affects the quality of life of the mentallyill, and health professionals are considered to be involved inpossessing negative attitudes towards them. We evaluated theprevalence of stigmatization among different health professionalsin Nigerian hospitals.METHODS: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional andcomparative survey assessing attitudinal views of healthprofessionals (doctors, pharmacists, and nurses) regarding mentalillness in two hospitals in Eastern Nigeria. The survey utilized the40-item Community Attitude to Mental Illness, CAMI-2questionnaire. The prevalence and the factors that contribute tonegative attitudes among this cohort were assessed. Statisticalanalysis using T-tests, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation wereconducted.RESULTS: Attitudes to all the four constructs of the CAMI-2 werenon-stigmatizing. Stigmatizing attitudes were significantly higheramong pharmacists, doctors and then nurses (p<0.006). Healthprofessionals who did not have contact with the mentally ill(p<0.0001), who were males (p=0.008) and had lower years ofworking experience (p=0.031) expressed significantly higherstigmatizing attitudes towards the mentally ill. Conclusions:Nigerian health professionals were largely non-stigmatizingtowards the mentally ill. However, being a pharmacist, of malegender, and working in a non-psychiatric hospital were associatedwith stigmatizing attitudes when they exist.KEYWORDS: Mental illness; Stigma; Health Professionals;Survey