A Survey on Public Attitudes Toward Mental Illness and Mental Health Services Among Four Cities in Saudi Arabia

PURPOSE: Our objectives are to assess the public attitude toward mentally ill people and mental health services and to compare the attitudes of those who have past history of mental illness, those who have been exposed to mentally ill people, and those who have not. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among subjects (n=1268) in four Saudi Arabian cities (Riyadh, Abha, Dammam, and Jizan), recruiting participants from malls and parks. All participants were administered “the knowledge and attitudes toward mental illness and mental health services scale”. RESULTS: Participants were divided into three groups; non-exposed to mental illness group (n=687, 54.1%), exposed to mental illness group (n=305, 24%), and having past history of mental illness group (n=276, 21.8%). Results revealed that non-exposed group had the lowest knowledge about mental illness (p <0.001). Exposed group had the best attitude toward mentally ill people (p=0.002), mental health services (p< 0.001), the lowest impact of traditional beliefs (p<0.001), and the best help-seeking decisions (p = 0.001). Regression models show the variables that predicted attitude toward the mentally ill were the attitude toward mental health services (p=0.001), impact of traditional beliefs (p=0.001), and residency (p=0.04). The predictors of attitude toward mental health services were impact of traditional beliefs (p<0.001), knowledge (p<0.001), and residency (p=0.028). And the variables that account for predicting future decisions were impact of traditional beliefs (p<0.001), attitude toward mental health services (p=0.001), and having past history of mental illness (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates significant differences in attitudes toward mental illness among different groups of participants. Lesser impact of traditional beliefs and better knowledge about mental illness were the factors most associated with better attitudes toward mentally ill people and mental health services and with better help-seeking behavior.