Trainee Nurses Attitude to Mental Illness at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

People with mental illnesses suffer from high levels of stigma, compounding their burden. There is a high rate of default from mental health care clinics and amongst people with mental disorders. It has been suggested that people with mental illness would present for treatment earlier and comply better if mental health professionals were less stigmatized. This study aims to determine the attitude of trainee nurses to mental illness at the federal neuro-psychiatric hospital Uselu, Benin City. Goffman’s theory was the theoretical framework that guided the study, while the cross-sectional study was the research design that was adopted. The study population consists of 200 students who were on clinical placement in the hospital at the time of the research. The instruments for data collection were (1) A semi-structured socio-demographic questionnaire designed by the researchers and (2) a standardized instrument, the Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ). The data analysis statistics were descriptive statistics (mean and simple percentages) and inferential statistics (chi-square, t-test, and correlation analysis). The conclusion was that the students had a reasonably positive attitude towards their patients. It was recommended that the exposure time for students to the clinical placements should be increased to give them more confidence in themselves.