Youth knowledge and Youth knowledge and attitudes about mental attitudes about mental

illnessillness

Otto Wahl & Dayna ZatinaOtto Wahl & Dayna ZatinaUniversity of HartfordUniversity of Hartford

Amy Lax, Janet Susin, & Lorraine KaplanAmy Lax, Janet Susin, & Lorraine KaplanNAMI Queens/NassauNAMI Queens/Nassau

Rationale for the current Rationale for the current studystudy• Mental illnesses are common among youth.

• Youth knowledge and attitudes will affect treatment seeking.

• Youth knowledge and attitudes will affect peers who experience psychiatric disorders.

• Youth knowledge attitudes set the foundation for adult attitudes.

• Compared to adult attitudes, relatively little is known about youth views of mental illnesses.

Highlights of previous Highlights of previous researchresearch• Multiple measures—survey, story-telling, stick figure

drawings of social distance

• Limited psychometric evaluation of measures.

• Wide range of ages and developmental levels.

• Main results:

– Knowledge about mental illnesses limited, especially at younger ages.

– Specific, consistent attitudes not found

– But generally, even younger school age children see mental illnesses in a more negative light than they see physical illnesses.

Current ResearchCurrent Research• Participants = 88 middle school students

(7th grade)– From two U.S. schools (Connecticut and South

Carolina)– 1 public, 1 private– 50% male and 50% female– 13% Minorities

• This was the first part of a larger study to assess the impact of a middle school mental health education curriculum on knowledge and attitudes. Goals of part 1 were:– To establish a measure appropriate for middle

school students– To establish a baseline of knowledge and

attitudes toward mental illnesses.

Instrument DevelopmentInstrument Development• Knowledge and attitudes questionnaire

– Selected knowledge items based on previous research, current adult instruments, and facts stressed in the teaching curriculum.

– Similar selection for attitude items.

• Social distance measure modified for middle school experiences

• Language reviewed by advisory board of school teachers and educators and modified to fit middle school students

• Reading level of items analyzed via Microsoft program, leading to further modification of items. Lower level items were placed earlier in the questionnaires.

Study MeasuresStudy Measures• Knowledge and attitude questionnaire

– 35 items– 18 Knowledge and 17 attitude questions– Likert choices from Strongly Agree to Strongly

Disagree (5-point scale)– Questionnaire included reverse items (where

disagreement rather than agreement indicated greater knowledge and more positive attitudes)

– Reverse items were reverse scored so that higher scores indicate greater knowledge and more positive attitudes

• Social Distance measure (8 items)– Willingness to interact in specific situations– 5-point Likert choices—Definitely Unwilling to

Definitely Willing– Higher scores indicate greater acceptance

Psychometric properties of Psychometric properties of measuresmeasures

• Internal consistency (Kappa)– Knowledge: .45– Attitudes: .82– Social Distance: .90

• Test-retest reliability– Knowledge: .67– Attitudes: .82– Social Distance: .90

Knowledge: The Good Knowledge: The Good NewsNews

• Overall knowledge was reasonably good

• Mean overall knowledge score was 64.82 (max = 90).

• The majority of students knew that

– mental illness is not contagious (89%)

– “psycho” and “maniac” are unacceptable terms to describe people with mental illnesses (63%)

– mental illnesses have biological causes (60%)

– people with mental illnesses are not violent and dangerous (58%)

Knowledge: Not-so-good Knowledge: Not-so-good NewsNews

There were numerous gaps in specific knowledge.

• Only 58% agreed that people with mental illnesses are not violent and dangerous.

• Only a minority of students knew that

– people with bipolar disorder are sometimes overconfident and overly energetic (10%)

– severe forms of mental illness can be treated successfully (11%)

– schizophrenia does not involve multiple personalities (18%)

– mental illness is often mistaken for drug abuse (23%)

– people with mental illnesses have included famous people such as astronauts, presidents, and baseball players (33%)

– mental illness and mental retardation are not the same things (41%)

Attitudes and Social Attitudes and Social Distance:Distance:

The Good NewsThe Good News• Expressed attitudes were generally positive.

– Overall attitude score: 63.35 (max = 85)

– Overall social distance score: 20.56 (max = 40)

• The majority of students

– Agreed that a person with a mental illness can be a good friend (91%)

– Agreed that people with mental illnesses deserve respect (86%)

– Indicated they would be willing to have someone with a mental illness

• In a class with them (72%)

• As a neighbor (67%)

Attitudes and Social Attitudes and Social Distance:Distance:

No-so-good NewsNo-so-good News• The downside of the good news:

– More than 1 in 4 are not willing to have someone with a mental illness in a class with them.

– One third are not willing to have someone with a mental illness as a neighbor.

• A substantial percentage of students agreed that

– it would be embarrassing to have a mental illness (39%)

– children with mental illnesses should not be in regular classrooms (28%).

– they have little in common with someone with a mental illness (28%)

• Only a minority of students indicated they would be willing to

– invite someone with a mental illness to their home (44%)

– work on a class project with someone with a mental illness (38%)

– go on a date with someone with a mental illness (20%)

ConclusionsConclusions• It is possible to develop measures of youth

knowledge and attitudes that are reliable, internally consistent, and informative.

• Results from these measures suggest:

– There is substantial need for improvement in youth knowledge and attitudes related to mental illnesses.

– Educational efforts with youth should convey information about specific disorders and their manifestations and differences.

– Work with youth should encourage greater acceptance and tolerance of peers with psychiatric disorders.