Abstract:
Abstract
Background
:
It has been suggested that those more knowledgeable about mental illness are less likely to endorse negative or
stigmatizing attitudes. The objectives of the stu
dy was to determine stigma toward mental illness among health care providers and to
determine their knowledge and beliefs about mental illness.
Materials and
Method
:
The investigation was a descriptive and cross
-
sectional study on a stratified and randomly
selected sample
population of 308 Health workers at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.
Questionnaires were used to elicit responses from the
respondents, using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale. Information was also obtained
on Knowledge and
beliefs about possible causes of mental illness.
Results:
The result of the study showed that stigmatizing attitudes to the mentally ill are widely held even among health care provide
rs.
Although the respondents appeared to be knowledgeab
le about the possible role of psychosocial and genetic factors in causation of
mental illness, 3.8% of them believed that mental illness could be caused by witches/wizards, 3.4% thought it could be a cons
equence
of Devine punishment or curse.
Conclusion:
T
his study offers insights into how health care providers regard people with mental illness that may be helpful in designing
appropriate training or re
-
training programs in Nigeria and other low
-
income African Countries
