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Mental health professionals’ attitudes towards people who have experienced a mental health disorder
Author(s) -
Hugo M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1046/j.1351-0126.2001.00430.x
Subject(s) - mental health , psychiatry , health professionals , depression (economics) , mental illness , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , medicine , psychology , clinical psychology , nursing , health care , economics , macroeconomics , economic growth
The aim of this study was to gain information about the attitudes of mental health professionals towards people who have experienced a mental illness. The study involved a survey of 266 mental health professionals employed in a range of mental health treatment settings. Respondents were administered a questionnaire based on one of two vignettes describing a person with schizophrenia or depression. Attitudes were represented as beliefs about prognosis and long‐term outcomes in relation to the two vignettes. Professional groups were found to be less optimistic about prognosis, and less positive about likely long‐term outcomes, when compared with the general public. Medical staff were less optimistic about outcomes than other professional groups, with mental health nurses generally most optimistic. Most professionals based their attitudes on their experiences of working with people with mental health problems.