Abstract
Background: It is known that stigmatising attitudes towards the
mentally ill correlate with the belief that they are dangerous and violent. It is believed that persons who evince a better understanding of mental illness are less likely to endorse stigma and discrimination. However, identifying the population at risk, who will actually benefit from such targeted education, is important
Aims: This study aimed to examine public perception of the attributes of the mentally ill and evaluate the possible correlates of such perceptions
Methods: The study was a cross sectional survey in which respondents (n=2078) were administered questionnaire on sociodemographic
variables, familiarity with mental illness, perceived causation of mental illness and perceived personal attributes of mental illness
Results: Dangerousness stereotype was endorsed by 1203 (57.9%) respondents while dependency
stereotype was endorsed by 438 (21.1%). Perceived dangerousness was significantly associated with female sex (OR 3.42, 95% Cl 2.83- 4.14), urban dwelling (OR 5.02, 95% Cl 3.96-6.36) and biological causal beliefs (OR 2.53, 95% Cl 2.05-3.12) while perceived dependency was significantly correlated with having cared/caring for the mentally ill (6.90, 95%Cl 4.47-10.66) and psychosocial causal beliefs (OR 4.67,95% Cl 3.67-5.93).
Conclusions: In public education on mental illness, specific information should be targeted at specific population groups in order to change the negative stereotypes of the mentally ill.