Abstract
Health care providers (HCPs)’ stigma perception can determine their behaviors and attitudes toward providing mental health services. This study aimed to assess stigma components of knowledge, attitude, and behavior among HCPs in Jordan. A cross sectional descriptive study using a convenience sample of 541 HCPs utilized. The Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS), the Mental Illness: Clinicians’ Attitudes Scale (MICA) and the Reported and Intended Behavior Scale (RIBS) were used to evaluate HCPs’ perceived stigma. Mean scores on RIBS were lowest and at mid-point for MAKS and MICA. Results revealed significantly that HCPs perceived stigma demonstrated in greater negative attitudes correlated with less knowledge (r = .18, .17; p = .01, .009) for both physicians and nurses. And between attitudes and reported intended behavior (r = .13, p = .025) among nurses. This make them less likely to deal with mental health problems in primary healthcare centers. The reported stigma in this context is possibly due to lack of training, inadequate experience, and cultural dynamics. Indeed, awareness programs are important to prepare those HCPs to provide mental health care in these settings shall they are asked to.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grant # 5R25TW010026-02 from the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health on behalf of the Research Ethics Program in Jordan. Also, the Deanship of Research/Jordan University of Science & Technology funded the study with Amount (JOD): 2450; Research Grant No: 20170113.
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The Institution Review Board (IRB) at principal researcher’s academic institution and the Ministry of Health and Scientific Review approved the study (Number 74-2017). Administrators of the primary health care centers also approved the study. Participation was voluntary and the participants signed a consent prior to enrollment. The participants were given information about confidentiality of information and their right to withdraw from the study at any time.
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Dalky, H.F., Abu-Hassan, H.H., Dalky, A.F. et al. Assessment of Mental Health Stigma Components of Mental Health Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Among Jordanian Healthcare Providers. Community Ment Health J 56, 524–531 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00509-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00509-2