1. ATTITUDES OF STUDENTS TOWARDS THE INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISORDERS IN THE COMMUNITY
Zdravka Leutar: Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work, Nazorova 51, Zagreb , Croatia
Maja Nižić, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciencies in Mostar, Matice Hrvatske bb, Mostar, BH
Anita Budimi, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciencies in Mostar, Matice Hrvatske bb, Mostar, BH
Ivan Bandić, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciencies in Mostar, Matice Hrvatske bb, Mostar, BH
Marko Buljevac, Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work, Nazorova 51, Zagreb , Croatia
Marina Milić Babić, Faculty of Law, Department of Social Work, Nazorova 51, 10000Zagreb , Croatia
INTRODUCTION
This work deals with the attitudes of students towards the inclusion of people with mental disorders in the community in which they live, i.e. what are the general attitudes in a society towards their inclusion. In (o)the(r) studies on the attitudes of students, the importance of a particular study is stated, as well as information that students have about people with mental disorders (Edwards, Green, Diwan, & Penn, 2001; Corrigan, Green, Lundin, Kubiak, & Penn, 2001; Link, 2001; Snra Riviera & Arriba Rosset, 2007). On that basis, they form their attitudes.
AIM
The aim was to find in general what the attitudes of students are towards inclusion of people with mental disorders in the community.
METHOD
The data was collected during the implementation of the project “Community Attitudes toward Mental Illness”, which was carried out by the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar. The project lasted from November 2015 to July 2016.
PARTICIPANTS
230 participants were included, of which 82.40% (N = 187) were female and 17.60% (N = 40) male.
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
The survey instrument applied in the study was Community Attitudes toward Mental Illness (CAMI), which was used extensively, and in a variety of contexts, for the purpose of investigating the stigma of mental illness (Cotton, 2004; Taylor & Dear 1981; Taylor, Dear, & Hall 1979; Thornton & Wahl, 1996; Wahl, 1993; Wolff, Pathare, Craig, & Leff, 1996). The CAMI used the general public as participants (Arboleda-Flórez & Sartorius, 2008), so attitudes of the general public were also desired for this study. The aim of conducted research was to find out whether there are statistically significant differences among participants in their attitudes with regard to socio-demographic data and their experience with people with mental disorders.
RESULTS
Table 1. CORRELATION BETWEEN FACTORS
Table 3. ANOVA RESULTS ON STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANTS DIFFERENCES
Restrictiveness
Integration into the community
Benevolence
Authoritarian relations
Social limitations (restrictiveness) 1
-0,147
0,559**
-0,121
-0,85
0,378**
0,042
Participants' attitudes towards people with mental disorders with regard to participants' level of education N M SD Df F p
Integration into the
community
Primary school 3
2,54
0,71 5
2,59
0,02
Vocational secondary school (2 or 3 years) 16
2,31
0,68
Comprehensive secondary school (4 years) 82
2,13
0,70
Two-year college (associate degree) 10
2,82
0,74
College 51
0,73
Master's, doctorate 9
2,18
0,82 17
2,10
0,60
2,04
0,63
2,02
0,50 53
2,08
0,58 8
0,59
Table 2. T-test RESULTS ON STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES
Participants' attitudes towards people with mental disorders with regard to contact between them N M SD T P
Social limitations (restrictiveness)
Yes
111
4,20
0,77
1,91
0,058 No 52
3,94
0,85
1,84
0,06
Integration into the community
117
2,24
0,63
-1,28
0,20 55
2,40
0,81
-1,37
0,17
Benevolence
113
3,86
0,44
0,65 56
3,81
0,73
0,46
0,64
Authoritarian relations
118
1,98
0,56
-2,41
0,01
2,22
0,66
-2,27
0,02
Participants' attitudes towards persons with mental disorders with regard to participants' age N M SD Df F p
Authoritarian relations
15-20 35
2,24
0,59 4
5,51
0,000
21-25 71
2,21
0,65
26-30 24
1,80
0,41
31-25 15
1,72
0,44
36-55 20
1,79
0,53
DISCUSSION
Four factors were extracted by means of factor analysis: social limitations (restrictiveness); integration into the community, benevolence towards persons with mental disorders, and authoritarian relations.
Results of this research provide findings which are the same as those obtained by numerous authors who designed and used this scale (Cotton, 2004; Taylor & Dear 1981; Taylor, Dear, & Hall 1979). Some domestic studies (Živopađa & Dulović, 2014; Vučina et al. 2012) employed different factoring.
However, identical results were obtained with regard to statistically significant differences.
CONCLUSION
The results show a statistically significant difference among participants with regard to socio-demographic data and their contact with people with mental disorders, as well as the predominance of mostly negative attitudes.
Scientific contribution
This research makes possible new insights into the stigma connected with and attitudes towards persons with mental disorders.
The research represents a contribution to existing body of research throughout the world since it provides results pertaining to a specific national context and social norms.
Practical contribution
This research contributes to raising awareness of the scientific and wider public regarding the stigma and attitudes towards people with mental disorders and providing direction for the formal support system in work on modifying negative attitudes and reducing stigmatization.