An assessment of awareness of mental health conditions and its association with socio-demographic characteristics: a cross-sectional study in a rural district in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND: To assess the level of awareness, knowledge and help-seeking attitudes and behaviours in relation to mental health conditions (MHCs) and associations with socio-demographic characteristics of a rural district of Bangladesh. METHODS: We recruited 2425 adult samples (18–90 years) from a Cross-sectional study in Narial district of Bangladesh. Data on awareness, knowledge, help-seeking attitudes and practice in relation to six MHCs were collected. The MHCs were classified as common (depression, anxiety and drug addiction), and severe (psychosis, dementia and bipolar disorder). Associations of MHCs with socio-demographic characteristics were assessed using Chi-square tests. Rasch analysis was performed to transform the latent attribute (awareness) of MHCs from ordinal to interval scale. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine how the socio-demographic characteristics contribute to the combined awareness score of MHCs. RESULTS: Of 2425 participants, 17 (0.7%) were cognizant of all the awareness construct of MHCs, and 1365 (56.28%) were not aware of any of MHCs. The prevalence of awareness of MHCs such as depression (8.5%), anxiety (6.2%), psychosis (3.5%), and bipolar disorder (3.3%), was found to be very low. Awareness was significantly lower in older adults, and in women. Higher levels of education (β 1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.58–1.97) associated with common MHCs and (β 0.81, 95% CI: 0.67–0.95) those associated with severe MHCs contributed significantly to increased awareness as opposed to having no or primary level of education. Availability of sufficient funds when applied to common MHCs (β 0.43, 95% CI: 0.26–0.61) and severe MHCs (β 0.25, 95% CI: 0.13–0.38) appeared to be more effective in boosting awareness compared to unstable financial situations. Almost 100% of the participants who were aware of the MHCs demonstrated positive attitudes towards seeking medical or psychological counselling. CONCLUSIONS: Awareness of MHCs appeared to be very limited. However, knowledgeable participants were found to be very receptive to medical or psychological counselling. For improving awareness of MHCs need to conduct various intervention programs in particular those campaigns that focus on women, older adults, low SES and people up to the primary levels of education. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4385-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.