Attitudes of Health Workers towards People with Mental Health Problems in Mosul City – Iraq

Salem AL-Khafaf, Eman

	Attitudes of Health Workers towards People with Mental Health Problems in Mosul City – Iraq
kufa Journal for Nursing sciences
Article 1, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 32-38
Author
Eman Salem AL-Khafaf
Abstract
Objective: The main objectives of this research were to identify the attitudes of Iraqi Health workers towards mentally ill people in Mosul city in Iraq and to investigate possible factors, which impacton Iraqi health workers’ attitudes to people with mental health problems. Method:A survey quantitative method wasused to address the research questions. The survey involved a pilot study to test the feasibility of the survey. Alpha-coefficient reliability tests output was (0.82) and indicated strong reliability on each attitudinal scale. To eliminate the ethical issue, the survey sample utilized a systematic random sample, with a target number for the sample of 300 of health workers. The present research conducted in Mosul medical area in Iraq from July to October 2011. Statistical Package for the Social Science program (SPSS, version 19) was used to analyze the data. Results: Only 273 of 300 surveys were in actuality completed and used for analysis. (52.7%) of the respondents were females. There was a heavier distribution of respondents in the (18-24) age group, representing (51.6%) of the total survey sample. The results of the one-sample test demonstrate a finding of no significance for the relationship between gender and attitudes (Sig= 0.16). The differences of the means among the age groups were tested using one way ANOVA. Analysis of variance for the differences between total respondents’ scores and their age indicated non-significance of observing the comparison of group means (Sig = 0.167). Conclusion:The research questions and hypotheses pertained directly to the variables of age, gender, and any other notable finding as housed within the first research question. Although the data analysis shows there are biases in responding, there are in general negative attitudes of health workers in Iraq towards people with mental health problems. Recommendations:1. The present research recommends that the future study should be examined the relationship between cultural elements (such as sex and gender) and societal attitudes toward mental illness and those with mental illness,and find what types of approaches for raising social awareness to truly address the biases in the people’s attitudes and hence the quality of life for people with mental illness. 2. Initiate educational programmes regarding mental illnesses knowledge through governmental or non-governmental organizations focused in particular on the health workers and on Iraqi community in general in order to change the negative attitudes towards people with mental health problems.

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