Attitudes of psychiatric employees and other health care workers towards patients with mental illnesses

CILJ: Cilj ovog istraživanja je usporediti stavove psihijatrijskih djelatnika i ostalih zdravstvenih djelatnika prema pacijentima oboljelih od mentalnih bolesti. METODE: U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 167 ispitanika od čega ih je 67 radi na psihijatrijskim odjelima dok 100 ispitanika ne radi na psihijatrijskim odjelima. Istraživanje je provedeno od travnja do srpnja 2023. godine. Korišten je upitnik Mental Illness: Clinicians’ Attitudes Scale uz 11 pitanja sociodemografskih karakteristika. REZULTATI: Nađena je statistički značajna razlika u mišljenju ispitanika o kontinuiranom učenju o duševnim bolestima i čitanju dodatnih materijala gdje ispitanici koji ne rade na psihijatriji rijetko ističu da uče o duševnim bolestima samo kada je to nužno, te da se rijetko trude istraživati dodatne materijale. Nađena je statistički značajna razlika kod zdravstvenih djelatnika koji rade na psihijatriji koji imaju za jedan bod viši stupanj suglasnosti s tvrdnjom „Rad u području mentalnog zdravlja jednako je vrednovan kao i rad u drugim područjima zdravstva i socijalne skrbi?“ od zdravstvenih djelatnika koji ne rade na psihijatriji. Nije utvrđena statistički značajna razlika kod zdravstvenih djelatnika koji rade na psihijatriji i onih koji ne rade na njoj u upotrebi riječi kao što su „lud“, „luđak“ i slično za opisivanje osoba s duševnim bolestima koje su susreli u poslu. U našem istraživanju primijetili smo statistički značajne razlike u stavovima zdravstvenih djelatnika prema temama povezanima s duševnim bolestima. Primijetili smo da je razina slaganja s tvrdnjom „Osobe oboljele od duševnih bolesti ne mogu se nikad dovoljno oporaviti kako bi mogle voditi kvalitetniji život“ bila je za jedan bod veća kod zdravstvenih djelatnika koji rade na psihijatriji u odnosu na one koji ne rade na psihijatriji. ZAKLJUČAK: Kroz provedeno istraživanje možemo zaključiti da zdravstveni djelatnici iz obje promatrane skupine imaju prisutnu empatiju prema oboljelima od mentalnih bolesti, ali zato zdravstveni djelatnici sa psihijatrijskih odjela u većem postotku smatraju da se mentalno oboljeli pacijenti mogu oporaviti. To ih čini skupinom koja kroz svoje iskustvo drugačije percipira pojam oporavka jer znaju šta ta riječ znači za oboljelog od mentalnih bolesti.AIM The aim of this research is to compare the attitudes of psychiatric workers and other health workers towards patients suffering from mental illnesses. METHODS: 167 respondents participated in the research, of which 67 work in psychiatric wards, while 100 respondents do not work in psychiatric wards. The research was conducted from April to July 2023. The questionnaire Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes Scale with 11 questions on sociodemographic characteristics was used. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found in the respondents' opinion about continuous learning about mental illnesses and reading additional materials, where respondents who do not work in psychiatry rarely point out that they learn about mental illnesses only when necessary, and that they rarely bother to research additional materials. A statistically significant difference was found among healthcare professionals who work in psychiatry, who have a one-point higher degree of agreement with the statement "Work in the field of mental health is equally valued as work in other areas of health and social care?" than healthcare professionals who do not work in psychiatry. No statistically significant difference was found between health professionals who work in psychiatry and those who do not in the use of words such as "crazy", "lunatic" and the like to describe people with mental illnesses that they encountered at work. In our research, we noticed statistically significant differences in the attitudes of healthcare workers towards topics related to mental illness. We noticed that the level of agreement with the statement "Persons suffering from mental illnesses can never recover enough to be able to lead a better quality of life" was one point higher among health professionals who work in psychiatry compared to those who do not work in psychiatry. CONCLUSION: Through the conducted research, we can conclude that healthcare professionals from both observed groups have a present empathy towards patients with mental illnesses, but that is why healthcare professionals from psychiatric wards in a higher percentage believe that mentally ill patients can recover. This makes them a group that, through their experience, perceives the concept of recovery differently because they know what that word means for a person suffering from mental illnes