Attitudes towards mental health

a comparative study between nursing freshmen and seniors

Abstract

4This study has been developed in two parts. In one of them, a profile of attitudes in face of mentally-ill patients and mental illness presented by nursing Freshmen was drawn before they had had any contact with academic instruction from courses belonging to this area of specific knowledge. In the other, the same profile of attitudes presented by Seniors was drawn a few days before they received a Bachelor of Nursing Science Degree. The study aimed at comparatively studying the profiles of attitudes by these student groups in face of mental illness and its carriers with the purpose to verify the influence of academic instruction on these aspects as well as to provide subsidies for the planning and development of the aforementioned courses. To that end, the opinion scale on mental illness was used. The results showed that the seniors were less authoritarian, less benevolent, less restrictive and less discriminatory. They had a stronger belief that mentally-ill people were similar to normal people. It can be concluded that the Seniors present a more positive profile of attitudes in face of mental illness and its carriers than do the Freshmen in Nursing and that the academic instruction referred to favorably influences in the change of such profile of attitudes.