Comparing Mental Illness Stigma among Nurses in Psychiatric and Non-Psychiatric Wards in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Stigma can complicate people's mental health problems by affecting different sides of personal life, increasing negative attitudes, causing discriminatory behavior towards them, and reducing the chances of recovery and returning to normal life. This research aims to compare the stigma of mental illness among nurses working in psychiatric and non-psychiatric wards in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. A total of 240 nurses participated in this descriptive and analytic study. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) Scale, which is a 40-item self-report questionnaire. All data were analyzed using SPSS 13. The majority of nurses have a medium level of stigma toward people with mental illness, and there is no significant relation between the type of wards and mean stigma scores. After eliminating factors such as mental illness in nurses and their families, it seems that only working with people with mental illness in psychiatric wards is not enough to create a positive attitude toward them. Additionally, the less physical activity and taking advantage of legal benefits of work hardship for psychiatric nurses, low income, and stigma toward psychiatric nursing, probably may make a difference in inclining to work in psychiatry ward between the two groups in spite of relatively equal stigma scores.