Attitude Toward Psychiatric Medication among College Students Majoring in Nursing Science and Social Welfare / 대한정신분열병학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Nurses and social workers are key persons connecting patients with psychotic disorders to psychiatric treatment. This study investigated the attitude of college students majoring in nursing science and social welfare toward psychiatric medication and stigma toward the mentally ill. METHODS: The study enrolled 553 college students (369 nursing science, 184 social welfare). We administered a five-item questionnaire to assess attitude toward psychiatric medication and a 20-item scale to assess stigma (prejudice regarding the dangerousness of the mentally ill and discrimination against the mentally ill). Factors associated with attitude toward psychiatric medication were identified. In addition, the stigma scale scores were compared with each item on attitude toward psychiatric medication. RESULTS: In the multivariate analysis, students majoring in social welfare had a significantly poorer attitude toward psychiatric medication than those majoring in nursing science. Age, senior grade, and experience to contact the mentally ill were also significantly associated with a good attitude toward medication, while attending psychiatry lectures, having a religion, and gender were not significantly associated with attitude toward psychiatric medication, although they showed relationships in the univariate analyses. For three of the five items, a negative attitude toward psychiatric medication was significantly associated with higher scores on the prejudice and discrimination scales. CONCLUSION: Prejudice toward and discrimination against the mentally ill are closely associated with a negative attitude toward psychiatric medication. An anti-stigma campaign should be developed that includes education to promote knowledge about psychiatric medications and reduce the stigma against the mentally ill. In addition, our findings suggest that experience to contact the mentally ill might improve attitudes toward psychiatric medication.