Abstract

ABSTRACT
Introduction: There is poor
knowledge about mental illness,
which contributes to stigmatization.
The extent of the problem have been
studied across cultures and found to
be common(Gureje et al, 2005;
Adewuya, 2007; Aghukwa, 2010)
The impact of the stigma associated
with mental illness is negative and
pervasive; affecting patients, their
family members, health care givers
and the wider community. There is a
need to determine the extent and
factors associated with the tendency
to stigmatize the mentally ill among
future health care providers such as
student nurses, who are potential
community health educators.
Aim: The study aimed to find the
prevalence and the factors
associated with stigma due to
psychosis among student nurses
Methods: It was a comparative cross
sectional study of the prevalence of,
and factors associated with mental
illness stigma among student nurses
usingtheOsgoodsemantic differential
and World Psychiatric Association
questionnaire on psychiatric stigma.
Results: A total of 126 subjects
participated in the study. The average
age of the respondents was 23.7
years (SD=3.7), with an intra centre
average of 23.0 and 24.6 for the
Maiduguri and Damaturu centres
respectively. The study demonstrated
that in both study groups there was a
general negative attitude (78-88.1%
thought the mentally ill patients were
dangerous; 78-88.5% would not
marry people who had mental illness)
and relatively good knowledge (29-
36% believed in a magical/ spiritual
aetiology of mental disorders) about
mental illness
Conclusion: Overall generally high
levels of psychiatric stigma exist
amongst the students' nurses, with
very few socio demographic
variables being associated with the
levels of stigma