Background: In resource-limited countries such as Nigeria, the clergy forms a significant part of the pathway to mental health care of patients. Stigma and negative attitudes toward mental illness may lead to the unwillingness of the clergy to collaborate with mental healthcare professionals.
Aim and Objectives: The paper aimed to assess stigma and its effect on clergy collaboration with mental health professionals in the delivery of mental health services in a developing country.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among 237 Christian clergies working in Aboh Mbaise LGA of Imo state. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and information on personal experience of mental illness. The forty-item Community Attitudes Towards Mental Illness (CAMI) scale was used to assess stigma and clergy attitudes toward mental illness.
Results: One hundred and seventy-six (74.3%) of the clergy were willing to collaborate with mental health care professionals. Among the 176 respondents who were willing to work with health workers, just above half (56.8%) reported offering health education to church members as the most preferred method of collaboration. There was a significant association between willingness to collaborate with mental health workers and a lower mean authoritarianism score (t=0.69, p=0.01), higher mean benevolence score (t=13.80, p=0.001), and higher mean social restrictiveness score (t=1.03, p=0.01).
Conclusion: There is a high level of negative attitude among the clergy towards persons suffering mental illness but despite this, the clergy are willing to collaborate with mental health practitioners.
Key words: stigma, clergy, collaboration, mental health, developing country
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