Beliefs of Primary Health Service Professionals Towards Mental Disorders

Abstract

Introduction: Individuals with mental illnesses have been excluded today from past. While the role of health professionals in fighting with stigma is important, negative attitudes and beliefs about mental illnesses can be seen in health workers as well. In this study, it is aimed to examine the beliefs of primary health care workers regarding mental illnesses. Method: This is a descriptive study. Ethics committee approval and permissions were taken for the study conducted by web survey method in 2016. One hundred and ninety-seven primary health care workers were voluntarily included in the study. Beliefs Towards Mental Illness Scale (BMIS) which was adapted to Turkish by Bilge and Cam (2008) was used as data collecting tool. Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 20 package program. Results: The mean age of the participants was 40,5±8,4, 66% were female, 32,5% were physicians and 85,8% were married. The average total BMIS score is 51,0±20,8, dangerousness dimension score average is 21,7±8,3, incurability / poor social. and interpersonal skills dimension score average is 27,8±12,3 and embarrassment dimension average score is 1,5±2,4. Significant differences were found in terms of scale total score and some sub-dimensions’ scores according to gender, income status and relatives with mental illness. Conclusion : Negative beliefs of primary health care workers towards to mental disorders may be sugegsted to be moderate. In order to reduce the stigmatization of mental illnesses and to integrate the of patients to community, the primary health care professionals need to be more conscious and active, and therefore the awareness of the health professionals about the subject should be increased. Giris: Dunden bugune ruhsal hastaligi olan bireyler toplumdan dislanmaktadir. Damgalama ile mucadelede saglik calisanlarinin rolu onemli olmakla birlikte, saglik calisanlarinda da ruhsal hastaliklara iliskin olumsuz tutum ve inanclar gorulebilmektedir. Bu calismada, birinci basamak saglik calisanlarinin ruhsal hastaliklara yonelik inanclarinin incelenmesi amaclanmistir. Yontem: Tanimlayici bir arastirmadir. Etik kurul onayi ve gerekli izinler alinarak 2016 yilinda web anketi yontemi ile gerceklestirilen calismada, birinci basamak saglik calisanlarindan 197 kisi arastirmaya gonullu katilim saglamistir. Veri toplama araci olarak, Bilge ve Cam (2008) tarafindan Turkce’ye uyarlanan “Ruhsal Hastaliga Yonelik Inanclar Olcegi (RHYIO)” kullanilmistir. Veriler SPSS 20,0 paket programinda degerlendirilmistir. Bulgular : Arastirmada katilimcilarin yas ortalamasi 40,5±8,4 olup, %66’si kadin, %32,5’i hekim, %85,8’i evlidir. Ruhsal Hastaliga Yonelik Inanclar Olcegi toplam puan ortalamasi 51,0±20,8, alt olcek puanlari ise sirasiyla; tehlikelilik 21,7±8,3, caresizlik-kisilerarasi iliskilerde bozulma 27,8±12,3 ve utanma puan ortalamasi 1,5±2,4 olarak belirlenmistir. Cinsiyete, gelir durumuna gore ve ruhsal hastaliga sahip yakini bulunma durumuna gore olcek toplam puani ve bazi olcek alt boyutlari acisindan anlamli farkliliklar saptanmistir (p<0.05). Sonuc: Calismaya katilan birinci basamak saglik calisanlarinin ruhsal hastaliklara yonelik olumsuz inanclarinin orta duzeyde oldugu soylenebilir. Ruhsal hastaliklara yonelik damgalamanin azaltilmasi ve hastalarin topluma entegrasyonunda birinci basamak calisanlarinin daha bilincli ve etkin olmasi gerekmektedir. Bu nedenle saglik calisanlarinin konu ile ilgili farkindaligi arttirilmalidir.