Attitude of physiotherapist towards mental illness: a comparison among undergraduates, post graduates students and clinical Therapist in Gujarat

Background: Mental illness is an important health issue worldwide among general public including negative attitudes and stigmatization for mentally ill. Stigma often represents one of the critical obstacles that stand in the way of delivering mental health care. Purpose: The primary aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes towards mental illness among under Graduate, Post graduate physiotherapy students and clinicians 0-3 years experience, 3-6 years, more than 6 years of experience in Gujarat. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among undergrduates(n=197),post graduate physiotherapy students (n=51),clinicians experience 0-3 years(n=18), 3-6 years (n-13) and more than 6 years(n=21) using Attitude Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) questionnaire with six sub scales namely; Separatism, Stereotyping, Restrictiveness, Benevolence, Pessimistic prediction and Stigmatization. This was a 5-point Likert scale with 34 items to rate participants responses from totally disagree (1) to totally agree (5). Results: We found significant differences among participants who agreed to the statement of questionnaire. Overall attitude of physiotherapist toward mental illness according to each component of ASMI scale (Separatism=27.00, Stereotyping=11.97, Restrictiveness=10.64, Pessimistic prediction=29.59, Benevolence=12.47, Stigmatization=9.88) positive according to descriptive statistics. In Separatism, when compare UG and PG with each other significant seen at value p 0.04. Stereotyping when compare UG and PG with each other significant value p 0.00. Benevolence when compare with clinicians 0-3 years of experience and UG with each other significant value is 0.38. Stigmatization when compare with each other UG and clinical 3-6 years of experience with each other significant value is 0.03. Conclusion: A positive attitude recorded is indicative of a good exposure of physiotherapists to mentally ill patients.