Beliefs, attitudes and predispositions of health care professionals towards mental illnesses to ethical values

This research aimed to determine the beliefs, attitudes and predispositions of health care professionals towards mental illnesses and ethical values. It is a descriptive and cross-sectional research. The universe of the research was composed of health professionals who work in a university hospital and two public hospitals in Tokat province and have education in the field of health. The sample of the research consisted of 171 health workers who voluntarily participated in the study. The Personal Information Form, The Beliefs Toward Mental Illness Scale (BMI), The Community Attitudes Towards Mentally Ill(CMI) and the Ethical Values Predisposition Scale (PSI) were used to collect the data. It was found that the average age of the health workers participating in the study was 30.94 and the average working time in the profession was 9.17. 62% of the healthcare professionals participating in the study were trained in mental illnesses, 34.5% had a desire to help, 58.5% had no relatives who had received a psychiatric diagnosis before, 89.5% had not received a psychiatric diagnosis, 50% of those who received a psychiatric diagnosis were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. it was found that 94.2% do not use psychiatric medications, 71.3% are psychiatric physicians of the individual who will receive priority help for a relative who shows signs of mental illness, 23.4% see stress and anxiety as the main cause of mental illness, 67.8% have received ethical values education. It was found that the negative beliefs of the health workers involved in the study regarding mental illnesses were at a low/moderate level, their attitudes towards mentally troubled individuals were at a moderate level, and their predispositions to ethical values were high. In addition, it has been found that the beliefs and attitudes of married health workers towards mental illnesses are more positive, male health workers have a more positive attitude, female health workers and those who love their profession are more prone to ethical values, those who have a relative with a psychiatric diagnosis have more positive beliefs about mental illnesses. Based on these results, it is envisaged that in order to prevent negative beliefs and attitudes towards mental illnesses, these issues should be given more space in educational institutions, awareness should be raised by providing in-service training to all health workers in this area, ethical values should be increased, and this communication should be strengthened by ensuring that all health workers are in contact with individuals with mental problems.