Determination of mental health literacy levels and health perceptions in individuals with mental illness

This study was conducted as a descriptive and cross-sectional study to determine mental health literacy and health perceptions in individuals with mental disorders. The research was conducted in a descriptive and cross-sectional manner between 11/10/2021-11/04/2022 among individuals who were inpatients and outpatients in a provincial mental health and disease hospital, community mental health center and university hospital psychiatric clinic. The sample of the study consisted of 252 individuals with mental disorders who met the study criteria. Personal Information Form, Mental Health Literacy Scale (RSOY) and Health Perception Scale (SAÖ) were used to collect data in the study. Data were collected face-to-face with individuals who agreed to participate in the study. SPSS 25.0 program was used to evaluate the data. Descriptive statistics, Shapirowilk, Kolmogorovsmirnov, independent groups t test and One Way (One Way) Anova Analysis and Post-Hoc tests (Tukey HSD) and Tamhane's, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis Variance test, Bonferroni, Pearson and Sperman Correlation analysis, regression analysis was performed. p<0.05 was adopted for statistical significance. 52.5% of the individuals participating in the study were male, 42.4% single, 39.6% high school graduate, 56.5% income equal to expenditure, 57.3% living in the city center, 51.4% was living in the longest city center, 75.3% did not have a chronic disease, 55.7% did not smoke and 80% did not use alcohol, and 80.4% did not have any difficulties in accessing health. When n=104 evaluated over, it was determined that 50% of their partners were primary school graduates and 54.8% were working. 16.62±5.82 from the "Attitudes towards Individuals with Mental Illness" sub-dimension, 26.29±4.47 from the "Attitudes towards Mental Illnesses" sub-dimension, and 26.29±4.47 from the "Recognition of Mental Disorders" sub-dimension of the Patients' Mental Health Literacy Scale (RSOY). It was determined that he got 17.45±3.51 points from the sub-dimension of "Accessing Mental Health Information" and 11.30±2.85 points from the sub-dimension. It was determined that the total mean score of the participants' Mental Health Literacy Scale was 71.69±9.81. 15.69±4.03 from the "Control Center" sub-dimension, 7.23±2.40 from the "Self-Awareness" sub-dimension of the Patients' Health Perception Scale (SAS), 13.01±3.32 from the "Precision" sub-dimension, and It was determined that he got 6.73±2.46 points from the "İmportance of Health" sub-dimension. The mean score of the Patients' Health Perception Scale was found 42.67±7.18. A statistically significant relationship was found between the total and sub-dimension mean scores of the Mental Health Literacy Scale and the mean scores of the Health Perception Scale total and sub-dimensions (p<0.05). According to this a negative correlation was found between the mean scores of Attitudes towards Mental Illness, Recognition of Mental Disorders and Access to Mental Health Information, which are the total and sub-dimensions of the Mental Health Literacy Scale, and the mean score of the Control Center, which is one of the sub-dimensions of the Health Perception Scale. As the total score of the Mental Health Literacy Scale and its sub-dimensions Attitude Towards Mental Illnesses, Recognition of Mental Disorders and Access to Mental Health Information mean score increases, the mean score of the Control Center from the sub-dimensions of the Health Perception Scale decreases. In addition, a negative correlation was found between the mean scores of Attitudes towards Mental Diseases and Access to Mental Health Information, which are the total and sub-dimensions of the Mental Health Literacy Scale, and the total score of the Health Perception Scale. As the total score of the Mental Health Literacy Scale and its sub-dimensions Attitude Towards Mental Illnesses and Access to Mental Health Information mean scores increase, the total scores of the Health Perception Scale decrease. Conclusion; It was determined that individuals with mental illness had a mean RSOY total score above the medium level and a mean total SA score was at a moderate level. A significant negative correlation was found between RSOY total and sub-dimensions mean scores and SAÖ total and sub-dimensions mean scores.