Investigation of beliefs and attitudes of students in vocational school of health services towards mental illness from the perspective of certain sociodemographical variables

The aim of the present study was to investigate beliefs and attitudes among the students of Health Sciences Vocational School (HSVC) in a private university in Turkey. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 400 students receiving education in HSVC within the April-June 2016 time frame and accepted to participate in the study. In the collection of data, Sociodemographic Information Form, Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale (BMI) and Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI) were used. The data was gathered via the distributed forms after written and oral information was provided to the participants. SPSS for Windows 10.0 statistical analysis software was used in the evaluation of the data together with t-test in independent groups, Mann-Whitney U-test to analyze differences between groups and Kruskal-Wallis test. Pearson product-moment correlation was used to investigate associations between variables. Level of significance was set at p<0.05. 53.8% of the participants consisted of students between ages of 20 and 22; whereas 67.3% were women, 85% were junior and 96.8% were single students. It was found in the study that the students scored 51.90±18.59 on BMI total score, 22.88±6.95 on Dangerousness subscale, 27.74±12.35 on Helplessness subscale and 1.28±2.37 on Shame subscale. Significant relationship was found between Dangerousness and Helplessness subscales within the BMI scale (r=0.85 and r=0.96, Table 4.6). One of the other findings is that the students scored low in Fear/Ostracizing subscale, while they scored high in Community Mental Health and Good Will subscales within the CAMI scale. Significant correlations were found between the students' sex, intimacy with mental illness, parent educational status, monthly income, knowledge about mental illness, contact with mental illness and their total and subscale scores within the BMI and CAMI scales (p<0.05). In terms of beliefs and attitudes toward mental illness, significant difference was found between students or their family members receiving psychological support and/or psychiatric treatment and students not receiving any such treatment or support (p<0.05). Suggestions were provided to improve positive attitudes and behaviors against the mentally ill, in light of the findings of the study.