Change in Attitude among Nursing Undergraduate Students Following One-Month Exposure in a Mental Healthcare Setting

BACKGROUND: Attitude of treating professionals plays an important role in the treatment of mental illnesses. Nursing professionals are an important part of the mental health care team. As a part of their nursing coursework, nursing students are posted in a mental health setting. It is important to assess the impact of such postings on their attitudes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 235 undergraduate nursing students posted in a mental healthcare setting for one month participated in the study. Their attitude towards mental illness and psychiatry was assessed before and after the posting, using Personal data sheet, Attitude Scale of Mental Illness (ASMI), and Attitude towards Psychiatry Scale (ATP). RESULTS: At pre-assessment, the nursing students had a negative attitude on all dimensions of ASMI except benevolence, and positive attitude on all the six domains of ATP. At post-assessment, attitude improved significantly on pessimistic prediction dimension of ASMI, and they were able to maintain their positive attitude on ATP. CONCLUSIONS: One-month posting had a weak positive impact on attitude towards mental illness and no detrimental impact on attitude towards psychiatry. There is a need for better efforts to increase the impact of training on attitude towards mental illness.