TY - JOUR
T1 - Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill
T2 - A Study with Health Workers at a University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro
AU - Siqueira, Sylvia Rosa Gonçalves
AU - Abelha, Lúcia
AU - Lovisi, Giovanni Marcos
AU - Sarução, Keli Rodrigues
AU - Yang, Lawrence
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - As there are few studies about evaluation of attitudes of health care workers to people with mental disorders in Brazil, a cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the health professionals’ attitudes working in a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro and also examine the proportion of negative and positive attitudes endorsed by healthcare professionals in Brazil towards people with mental illness in comparison with other parts of the world. Data were collected using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) in a random sampling frame of health professionals (n = 246) working in a University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro between April 2013 and June 2013. The CAMI consists of four sub-scales: Authoritarianism, Benevolence, Social Restrictiveness and Community Mental Health Ideology. The results showed attitudes that range from neutral to positive, with the Benevolence and Social Restrictiveness sub-scales showing the least stigmatizing results. The following individual characteristics were associated with negative attitudes: lower levels of education and less clinical experience. In general, health workers attitudes towards service users are characterized as positive when compared with other international studies. However, educational programs for health workers should be reinforced to further promote pre-existing positive attitudes towards people with mental health and the implementation of Brazilian Mental Health Policies.
AB - As there are few studies about evaluation of attitudes of health care workers to people with mental disorders in Brazil, a cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the health professionals’ attitudes working in a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro and also examine the proportion of negative and positive attitudes endorsed by healthcare professionals in Brazil towards people with mental illness in comparison with other parts of the world. Data were collected using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) in a random sampling frame of health professionals (n = 246) working in a University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro between April 2013 and June 2013. The CAMI consists of four sub-scales: Authoritarianism, Benevolence, Social Restrictiveness and Community Mental Health Ideology. The results showed attitudes that range from neutral to positive, with the Benevolence and Social Restrictiveness sub-scales showing the least stigmatizing results. The following individual characteristics were associated with negative attitudes: lower levels of education and less clinical experience. In general, health workers attitudes towards service users are characterized as positive when compared with other international studies. However, educational programs for health workers should be reinforced to further promote pre-existing positive attitudes towards people with mental health and the implementation of Brazilian Mental Health Policies.
KW - Attitudes of health workers
KW - Severe mental disorders
KW - Social stigma
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U2 - 10.1007/s11126-016-9431-5
DO - 10.1007/s11126-016-9431-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 26951160
AN - SCOPUS:84960089459
SN - 0033-2720
VL - 88
SP - 25
EP - 38
JO - Psychiatric Quarterly
JF - Psychiatric Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -