Yoshichika Kawaguchi

Teachers' knowledge, beliefs and attitudes concerning schizophrenia- a cross-cultural approach in Japan and Taiwan.

Abstract.Background:Mental health literacy of the general public is essential for the effective promotion of society’s mental health. However, there has been no investigation of the general public’s mental health literacy with Japanese and Taiwanese socio-cultural backgrounds.Methods:A total of 129 Japanese and 150 Taiwanese elementary school teachers were surveyed about knowledge, beliefs and attitudes concerning schizophrenia by means of a questionnaire with a vignette describing a case of the disease. Identification of the case, cause of the disease, coping behavior for the case, and perception of stigmatizing and supporting attitudes by parents and neighbors of the case were investigated.Results:As a common finding with the studies in Western countries, only small percentages of the Japanese and Taiwanese respondents were able to make a correct identification. A further common finding was the emphasis on psychosocial factors as a cause of schizophrenia, as was the rejection of psychotropic medication, although future study is required to determine to what extent the respondents know about therapeutic procedures utilized by psychiatrists. Significantly stronger stigma perception was shown in the Japanese respondents than in the Taiwanese, which may be attributable to the high institutionalization rate in Japan.Conclusions:Japanese and Taiwanese teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes regarding schizophrenia were similar to those found in the general public in Western societies. Although the present study is limited in sampling and the components of the mental health literacy investigated, several working hypotheses have been extracted from it to be tested in future investigations on the Japanese and Taiwanese and other Asian general public’s mental health literacy.

International study on antidepressant prescription pattern at 20 teaching hospitals and major psychiatric institutions in East Asia: Analysis of 1898 cases from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan

Abstract  The purpose of the present study was to review the prescription patterns of antidepressants in different countries in East Asia. The survey was conducted in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan from October 2003 to March 2004 using the unified research protocol and questionnaire. Twenty teaching hospitals and major psychiatric hospitals participated and a total of 1898 patients receiving antidepressants were analyzed. The survey provided a number of interesting characteristics on the prescription patterns of antidepressant in East Asia. Out of 56 antidepressants listed in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification (ATC) index by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Drug Statistics Methodology (Oslo), only 26 antidepressants were prescribed in participating countries in East Asia. On average 38.4% of prescriptions of antidepressants were for patients with diagnoses other than depressive disorders. The availability and commonly prescribed antidepressants varied greatly by country. The selective serotonin re‐uptake inhibitors (SSRI) and other newer antidepressants were prescribed in approximately 77.0% of all cases. At the time of the survey, only two SSRI medications were available in Japan. However, five types of SSRI were available and were often prescribed in Korea.