Data from: Caregivers' attitude towards people with mental illness and perceived stigma: a cross-sectional study in a tertiary hospital in Nepal

Background: Mental illness is stigmatized in most of the communities and
people with such illness are often subjected to defame. Stigma impairs an
individual’s and their caregiver’s physical, social and emotional
wellbeing, and health-seeking behavior. Sufficient literature on how often
the caregivers of people with mental illness from low and middle-income
countries are stigmatized and how they perceive people with mental illness
is unavailable. In this study, we examined caregivers’ attitude towards
people with mental illness and perceived stigma. Methods: We conducted
face-to-face interviews with 170 caregivers in an outpatient clinic of a
hospital in Nepal using a structured questionnaire. We calculated median
and inter-quartile range of the attitude and perceived stigma scores. To
assess the correlates, Kruskal Wallis H test and Mann Whitney U test were
carried out. Results: Overall median score for the domains: attitude
(score range: 18–90) and perceived stigma (score range: 12–60) were 42 and
28 respectively, inter-quartile range being 8 each. Attitude score
differed significantly by the sex of caregiver (p<0.05),
educational status of caregiver (p<0.001), sex of patient
(p<0.05) and type of mental illness (p<0.05). Perceived
stigma score varied significantly by caregiver’s sex (p<0.05),
marital status (p<0.001), educational status (p<0.001),
occupation (p<0.05), relation with the patient (p<0.005) and
use of alternative treatment modalities (p<0.05). Conclusion: Sex
of participant, educational status, sex of patient and type of mental
illness were the correlates of attitude towards mental illness. Similarly,
sex of participant, marital status, educational status, occupation,
caregiver’s relation with patient and use of alternative treatment
modalities were correlates of perceived stigma. Findings of this study
suggest that interventions targeting these high-risk populations might be
beneficial to help build a positive attitude and overcome the perceived
social stigma.