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Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia

Introduction Mental stigma is when patients of mental illness are labeled by their disorders, viewed negatively, and discriminated against due to their illness. This has a big impact on people's attitudes and behaviors toward the mentally ill. Moreover, mental stigma leads people to avoid patie...

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Autores principales: Alamer, Mohammed, Alsaad, Ali, Al-Ghareeb, Mohammed, Almomatten, Almukhtar, Alaethan, Mohammed, AlAmeer, Mohammed A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8681925/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34976480
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.19710
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author Alamer, Mohammed
Alsaad, Ali
Al-Ghareeb, Mohammed
Almomatten, Almukhtar
Alaethan, Mohammed
AlAmeer, Mohammed A
author_facet Alamer, Mohammed
Alsaad, Ali
Al-Ghareeb, Mohammed
Almomatten, Almukhtar
Alaethan, Mohammed
AlAmeer, Mohammed A
author_sort Alamer, Mohammed
collection PubMed
description Introduction Mental stigma is when patients of mental illness are labeled by their disorders, viewed negatively, and discriminated against due to their illness. This has a big impact on people's attitudes and behaviors toward the mentally ill. Moreover, mental stigma leads people to avoid patients with mental health issues, blame them for their conditions, and associate them with negative features like being dangerous, unpredictable, and hard to communicate with. The primary objective of this study is to assess the mental stigma among the population of the Al-Ahsa region in Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, between June and August 2021. The target population of the study was people aged 18-65 years old whose place of residency during the time of the study was Al-Ahsa. The questionnaire used in this study contained a mental stigma scale called community attitudes toward mental illness (CAMI). Results A total of 758 participants were enrolled in the study. The mean of the stigma score was 99.24 ± 15.622, with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 176. The means of the subscales were as follows: authoritarianism (26.18 ± 4.420), benevolence (23.26 ± 4.762), community mental health ideology (24.66 ± 5.896), and social restrictiveness (25.13 ± 4.6). There was a positive relationship between age and stigma score. Healthcare workers were found to have a lower level of stigma, as were those who spoke more languages. Also, being diagnosed with a mental illness and knowing someone who is diagnosed with a mental illness were associated with a lower level of stigma. Conclusion Most of the population (91.96%) had a low to medium-low level of stigma. The variables found to affect the level of stigma were age, career, number of spoken languages, being diagnosed with a mental illness, and knowing someone who is diagnosed with a mental illness. Mental stigma has a great impact on the person, as it can prevent the patient from seeking help, lead to isolation, and suicidal ideation. Future stigma-targeted campaigns are recommended.
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spelling pubmed-86819252021-12-30 Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia Alamer, Mohammed Alsaad, Ali Al-Ghareeb, Mohammed Almomatten, Almukhtar Alaethan, Mohammed AlAmeer, Mohammed A Cureus Psychiatry Introduction Mental stigma is when patients of mental illness are labeled by their disorders, viewed negatively, and discriminated against due to their illness. This has a big impact on people's attitudes and behaviors toward the mentally ill. Moreover, mental stigma leads people to avoid patients with mental health issues, blame them for their conditions, and associate them with negative features like being dangerous, unpredictable, and hard to communicate with. The primary objective of this study is to assess the mental stigma among the population of the Al-Ahsa region in Saudi Arabia. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, between June and August 2021. The target population of the study was people aged 18-65 years old whose place of residency during the time of the study was Al-Ahsa. The questionnaire used in this study contained a mental stigma scale called community attitudes toward mental illness (CAMI). Results A total of 758 participants were enrolled in the study. The mean of the stigma score was 99.24 ± 15.622, with a minimum of 53 and a maximum of 176. The means of the subscales were as follows: authoritarianism (26.18 ± 4.420), benevolence (23.26 ± 4.762), community mental health ideology (24.66 ± 5.896), and social restrictiveness (25.13 ± 4.6). There was a positive relationship between age and stigma score. Healthcare workers were found to have a lower level of stigma, as were those who spoke more languages. Also, being diagnosed with a mental illness and knowing someone who is diagnosed with a mental illness were associated with a lower level of stigma. Conclusion Most of the population (91.96%) had a low to medium-low level of stigma. The variables found to affect the level of stigma were age, career, number of spoken languages, being diagnosed with a mental illness, and knowing someone who is diagnosed with a mental illness. Mental stigma has a great impact on the person, as it can prevent the patient from seeking help, lead to isolation, and suicidal ideation. Future stigma-targeted campaigns are recommended. Cureus 2021-11-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8681925/ /pubmed/34976480 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.19710 Text en Copyright © 2021, Alamer et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Alamer, Mohammed
Alsaad, Ali
Al-Ghareeb, Mohammed
Almomatten, Almukhtar
Alaethan, Mohammed
AlAmeer, Mohammed A
Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title_full Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title_short Mental Stigma Among Al-Ahsa Population in Saudi Arabia
title_sort mental stigma among al-ahsa population in saudi arabia
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8681925/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34976480
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.19710
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