Psychiatry Journal
Volume 2016 (2016), Article ID 6740346, 8 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/6740346

Research Article

Community Perception towards Mental Illness among Residents of Gimbi Town, Western Ethiopia

Misael Benti,¹ Jemal Ebrahim,² Tadesse Awoke,³ Zegeye Yohannis,⁴ and Asres Bedaso²

¹Psychiatry Department, Gimbi General Hospital, Oromia, Ethiopia
²School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia
³Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
⁴Research and Training Directorate, Amanuel Specialized Mental Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Received 7 June 2016; Revised 16 August 2016; Accepted 20 September 2016

Academic Editor: Yvonne Forsell

Copyright © 2016 Misael Benti et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract.

Background. Despite the increased burden of mental health problem, little is known about knowledge and perception of the public towards mental health problems in Ethiopia. Methods. Community based cross-sectional study was conducted among selected 845 Gimbi town residents from May 28 to June 28, 2014. Results. Out of the total study participants, 304 (37.3%) were found to have poor perception (a score below mean five semantic differential scales for positive questions and above mean for negative questions) of mental illness. Being above 28 years of age (AOR = 0.48 CI (0.23, 0.78)), private workers (AOR = 0.41 CI (0.19, 0.87)), and lack of mental health information were found to be associated with poor perception of mental illness (AOR = 0.133 CI (0.09, 0.20)). Absence of family history of mental illness was also found to be associated with poor perception of mental illness (AOR = 0.37 CI (0.21, 0.66)). Conclusions. Significant proportions of the community in Gimbi town were found to have poor perception of mental illness. Poor perception is common among old aged, less educated, private workers, those unable to access mental health information, and those with no family history of mental illness. Mental health education on possible causes, treatment options, and possible outcome of treatment to the community is required.

1. Background

Mental and behavioral problem exist in all countries, in women and men at all stages of life, among the poor and rich and among rural and urban people. As many as 450 million people worldwide are estimated to be suffering at any given time from some kind of mental or brain disorder, including behavioral and substance related disorders [1]. Worldwide it is estimated that life time prevalence ranges from 12.2% to 48.6% and 12-month prevalence between 8.25% and 29.1% [2].

Community’s perception of mental health varies across the culture, and there are various myths and beliefs regarding mental health [3]. The conceptualization and perceived cause of mental illness vary from community to community. Accordingly, people with mental health problem get different names in different societies [4–6].

People tend to have strong beliefs about the mental illness, and many of these concepts are based on prevailing local systems of belief. Most of the society’s perception and attitude towards mental illness are far from the scientific view and this may negatively affect treatment seeking and adherence [7, 8].

Several studies show that people’s belief regarding mental illness is also the main factor which leads to stigmatization and labeling. Stigma against people with mental illness remains a significant barrier to positive outcomes across cultures and nations, related to the threat value of mental symptoms, intolerance for diversity, and inaccurate conceptions of mental disorder [9, 10].

Community’s perception is dynamic and tends to change as the awareness and education changes. Education and social media are the major factors which move the perception of the community to the scientific perspectives [11].

Globally, including developed and developing countries, people held different explanation regarding mental illness, especially its causal and treatment option. A report of the behavioral risk factor surveillance system shows that in USA 80% of the adult population in the state surveyed agree that mental illness treatment is effective. The rest either disagree or have no idea about that and only 35%–67% of the population agreed that people are caring and sympathetic to people with mental illness [12].

Mental health, neglected for far too long, is crucial to the overall well-being of individuals, societies, and countries and must be universally regarded in a new light. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, mental health and mental disorders are not regarded with anything like the same importance as physical health [13].

Poor perception of mental illness in different community contributed to low treatment seeking and stigmatization of people with mental illness. They often go to hospitals after they have tried all options and after the symptom has got worse and this in turn negatively affects the prognoses of treatment [14].

Hence, assessing community’s perception is important to have appropriate plan of health promotion and scaling up publics’ utilization of mental health services, particularly in multiethnic and multicultural Ethiopia as the community’s view of mental illness varies with culture.

Studies done in different areas have shown that poor perception towards the mentally ill is mainly deep rooted with various sociodemographic and other factors [7, 8, 10, 13–18].

In Ethiopia there are few published studies [18] assessing community perception towards people with mental illness and no studies were done in Gimbi town concerning this topic. Therefore, this study has great value on assessing the perception of the community towards mental illness. Also the result of this study is very important to the mental health strategy developed so far and to other stakeholders as describing the community’s deep rooted belief and perception regarding mental illness in West Wellega, particularly Gimbi town.

2. Method and Materials

2.1. Study Design and Period

Community based cross-sectional study design was conducted from May 28 to June 28, 2014, at Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia. The town is located at a distance of 441 Km from the capital city, Addis Ababa to the west. Gimbi town has got two hospitals and one health center. The town has 4 kebeles and according to the 2007 National Housing and Population Census, the projected population of Gimbi town for the year 2014/15 was about 42,286 and the estimated number of households was 8629 [19].

2.2. Sampling Techniques

Single population proportion with the assumptions of 95% level of confidence, 5% error, and 50% proportion was used to estimate the minimum sample size for the study. Considering the design effect of two (multiplied by 2) and 10% nonresponse rate, the final sample size became 845.

Following purposive selection of the administrative town (Gimbi town), the two kebeles out of four (the smallest administrative level) were selected randomly. Households in the selected kebeles were approached by systematic sampling method with the first household selected randomly. From each selected household, one individual, 18 years of age and older (based on information from household head), was included for the interview. A lottery method was used to select one individual in a house hold where more than one individual, 18 years of age and older, was found.

2.3. Data Collection and Measurements

Data were collected through face to face interview by trained data collectors. A case vignette based standardized questionnaire which explains cases like schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, epilepsy, and generalized anxiety disorder [18] as well as questionnaires adopted from previous studies to assess sociodemographic characteristics and other associated factors was used. Standard 9 items of five semantic deferential scales were also used to assess community perception about mental illness. A score above mean score of five semantic differential scales for positive questions and below mean score for negative questions was considered as having good perception of mental illness. Four trained diploma nurses interviewed the community and were supervised in the field during data collection. Eligible participants not available at home during the first visit of data collection were revisited once on the next day and then registered as nonresponse if not found.

2.4. Data Quality Control

The tool was first developed in English language and translated to Amharic language with back translation to English for consistency. Amharic version questionnaire was used to collect data as Amharic is the national official language that majority of Ethiopians speak.

To assure the quality of data the questionnaire was pretested 1 week before the actual data collection time among 40 people not included in the actual sample and appropriate modification was made. The reliability of the tool was found to be .

Training on objectives of the study, over all data collection procedure and ethics of the study, was given to data collectors and supervised by principal investigators on the actual data collection site. To ensure confidentiality, interview was conducted in private setting. Throughout the course of the data collection, interviewers were supervised at each site; regular meetings were held between the data collectors and the principal investigator. Two more additional visits were made for eligible respondent not accessed in the first visit. The collected data was reviewed and checked for completeness before data entry.

2.5. Data Processing and Analysis

Data clean-up and cross checking were done before analysis. Checked, cleaned, and coded data was entered into EPI info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics like frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviation were used to present data. Tables and figures were also used to present data. Binary logistic regression was used to see associated factors with the dependent variable. Those variable with value less than 0.02 were entered to multivariate analysis to identify the independent associated factors after confounders are controlled. Finally the variables which had independent association with community perception were identified on the basis of OR, with 95% CI and value less than 0.05.

2.6. Ethical Considerations

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of University of Gondar and Amanuel mental specialized hospital. Permission letter was obtained from Oromia regional health bureau, West Wellega Zonal health department, and Gimbi town health office hierarchically.

Written informed consent was obtained from each study participant. After reading the consent statement by the data collectors, finger prints were obtained from those participants who could not read and write. The respondents were informed that their inclusion in the study is voluntary and they are free to withdraw from the study if they are not willing to participate.

Also all respondents are informed that they did not have direct payment for their participation in the study. Anonymity was maintained to ensure confidentiality of respondents.

3. Results

A total of 845 selected peoples in Gimbi town were interviewed, out of which 29 responses were excluded for gross incompleteness and considered as nonresponse. Therefore, analysis was made based on 816 questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 96.5%.

3.1. Sociodemographic Characteristics of Respondents

Among the total respondents, 414 (50.73%) were females and the mean age of participants was SD. The majority, 706 (86.5%), of study participants were Oromo in ethnicity and four hundred and sixty-seven (57.2%) were Orthodox followers by religion. 577 (70.7%) were married, 285 (34.9%) have elementary level education, and 31.4% of the respondents were merchant. Six hundred and fifteen (75.4%) of the respondents had an average family monthly income less than or equal to 651 Ethiopian birr (Table 1).

Table 1: Sociodemographic characteristics of respondents () in Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2014.

Variables
Category
Frequency
Percentage

Age
18–28
313
38.4

29–38
301
36.9

≥39
202
24.8

Sex
Male
402
49.3

Female
414
50.7

Religion
Orthodox
467
57.2

Protestant
266
32.6

Muslim
83
10.2

Ethnicity
Oromo
704
86.3

Amhara
84
10.1

Gurage
18
2.2

Tigre
8
1.2

Others
2
0.2

Educational status
Degree and above
38
4.7

Diploma
119
14.6

High school
280
34.3

Elementary
285
34.9

Uneducated
94
11.5

Marital status
Single
221
27.1

Married
577
70.7

Divorced
18
2.2

Occupational status
Government
113
13.8

Private
270
33.1

Merchant
256
31.4

Student
66
8.1

Housewife
111
13.6

Family monthly income in Ethiopian birr
≤450
27
25.4

451–650
215
26.3

651–1300
193
23.7

≥1301
201
24.6

3.2. Mental Health Information

Mental health information refers to information on the types of mental illness, causes, possibility of treatment, treatment options, and magnitude of mental illness. Accordingly, among all study participants, 564 (69.1%) were reported as having mental health information in the past 12 months while the remaining 252 did not receive any information related to mental health illness. Among 564 respondents having information regarding mental illness 21.3%, 12.4%, and 11% believe that mental illnesses are caused by excessive worry, substance use, and evil spirit, respectively. Mental illness are serious problem (18.5%) and stress can cause mental illness (11.3%), which were among the statements frequently mentioned.

3.3. Family History of Mental Illness

Presence of family member/s with any type of mental health problem was considered here. Among the total participants, 100 (12.3%) were reported to have family history of mental illness (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Distribution of family history of mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, 2014.

3.4. Respondents’ Perception of Mental Illness

A score below 27 for 9 items of five semantic deferential scales was considered having poor perception towards mental illness in this study. Accordingly (37.3%) respondents were found having poor perception towards mental illness (Table 2).

Table 2: Distribution of community’s perception of mental illness among the residents of Gimbi town, Oromia region, Ethiopia (), 2014.

S. number
Questions
1
2
3
4
5

%

%

%

%

%

1
Do you agree that substance misuse like alcohol or drug could result in mental illness?
12
1.5
50
6.5
106
13.0
444
55.4
204
25.0

2
Do you agree that genetic inheritance could be the cause of mental illness?
220
27.0
130
15.9
150
18.4
222
27.2
94
11.5

3
Do you agree that head injury can be the cause of mental illness?
52
6.4
130
15.9
111
13.6
308
37.7
215
26.3

4
Do you agree that physical illness (like diabetes, HIV/AIDS) can be the cause of mental illness
54
6.6
221
27.1
49
6.0
273
33.5
219
26.8

5
Do you agree that mental illness is treatable?
12
1.5
220
27.0
60
7.4
304
37.3
220
27.0

6
Do you agree that stress in daily life can cause mental Illness?
19
2.3
107
24.1
65
8.0
270
33.1
265
32.5

7
Do you agree that mental illness is contagious?
435
53.3
152
18.6
171
21
40
4.9
18
2.2

8
Do you agree that mental illness is punishment from God?
38
4.7
88
10.8
400
49.0
226
27.7
64
7.8

9
Do you agree that evil sprite can be the cause of mental illness?
32
3.9
35
4.3
221
27.0
413
50.6
115
14.0

1: strongly disagree; 2: disagree; 3: not sure; 4: agree; 5: strongly agree.

3.5. Respondents’ Perceived Cause of Mental Illness

Majority of the respondents attributed the cause of mental illness in the case vignette to supernatural causes like evil spirit, God’s punishment, and witchcraft. Table 3 shows the distribution of perceived cause of mental illness in the case vignettes (Table 3).

Table 3: Distribution of respondents’ perceived cause of mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia (multiple responses), 2014.

Causes

Mental illness

Epilepsy
Schizophrenia
MDD
GAD

%

%

%

%

Evil spirit
No
262
32.1
232
28.4
280
34.3
334
40.9

Yes
554
67.9
584
71.6
536
65.7
482
59.1

God’s punishment
No
644
78.9
646
79.2
706
86.5
732
89.7

Yes
172
21.1
170
20.8
110
13.5
84
10.3

Witchcraft
No
648
79.4
640
78.4
668
81.9
684
83.8

Yes
168
20.6
176
21.6
148
18.1
132
16.2

Daily stress
No
596
73.0
254
31.1
774
94.9
202
24.8

Yes
220
27.0
562
68.9
42
5.1
614
75.2

Biological
No
736
90.2
710
87.0
204
25.0
185
22.7

Yes
80
9.8
106
13.0
612
75.0
631
77.3

Substance use
No
630
77.2
394
48.3
632
77.5
696
85.3

Yes
186
22.8
422
51.7
184
22.5
120
14.7

Physical illness
No
488
59.8
664
81.4
632
77.5
756
92.6

Yes
328
40.2
152
18.6
184
22.5
60
7.4

3.6. Respondents’ Recognition of the Case Vignette as Mental Illness

Schizophrenia was the case identified as mental illness by the majority of respondents. Seven hundred and seventy-four (94.9%) of the respondents identified schizophrenia as mental illness. General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) was the least case identified as mental illness by the respondents (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Distribution of respondents’ recognition of mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, 2014.

3.7. Perception regarding Possibility of Treatment of Mental Illness on the Case Vignette

Great discrepancy was observed among case vignettes regarding the respondents’ view of whether or not they can be treated. Majority of the respondents (784) (96.1%), reported that GAD can be treated while 202 (24.8%) of the respondents reported that schizophrenia is treatable (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Distribution of respondents’ perception regarding possibility of treatment of mental illness (), Gimbi town, 2014.

3.8. Respondents Preferred Place of Treatment for the Case Vignettes

Regarding preferred place of treatment: 538 (65.9%), 470 (57.6%), 454 (55.6%), and 254 (31.1%) of respondents prefer health institution for epilepsy, schizophrenia, MDD, and GAD, respectively. See Table 4 for the distribution of the respondents’ preferred place of treatment.

Table 4: Distribution of respondents preferred place of treatment mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone, Ethiopia, 2014.

Treatment option

Mental illness

Epilepsy
Schizophrenia
MDD
GAD

%

%

%

%

Family
No
808
99.0
810
99.3
784
96.1
612
75.0

Yes
8
1.0
6
.7
32
3.9
204
25.0

Hospital/HC
No
278
34.1
346
42.4
362
44.4
562
68.9

Yes
538
65.9
470
57.6
454
55.6
254
31.1

Holly water
No
658
80.6
656
80.4
658
80.6
728
89.2

Yes
158
19.4
160
19.6
158
19.4
88
10.8

Traditional healer
No
772
94.6
770
94.4
758
92.9
796
97.5

Yes
44
5.4
46
5.6
58
7.1
20
2.5

Prayer
No
572
70.1
538
65.9
380
46.6
334
40.9

Yes
244
29.9
278
34.1
436
53.4
482
59.1

Witchcraft
No
782
95.8
790
96.8
790
96.8
804
98.5

Yes
34
4.2
26
3.2
26
3.2
12
1.5

3.9. Respondents Perceived Severity of Mental Illness

Respondents were asked to rank the case vignette from the most serious to the least. Schizophrenia was seen as the most severe by majority of the respondents. Following schizophrenia, epilepsy, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder were seen from the most severe to the least, respectively (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Distribution of respondents’ perceived severity of mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2014 ().

3.10. Factors Associated with the Respondents’ Perception of Mental Illness

In bivariate analyses age of respondents, educational status, occupational status, mental health information, and family history of mental illness were found to be significantly associated with perception of mental illness.

Respondent age, educational level, occupation, mental health information, and family history of mental illness were found to be independently associated after multivariate analysis.

The likelihood of having poor perception of mental illness among those above age 39 is higher than those below 28 years old (AOR = 0.5 (0.30, 0.80)). The proportion of poor perception is observed among those who have no formal education (AOR = 0.09 CI (0.02, 0.46)), elementary education (AOR = 0.07 CI (0.02, 0.33)), and high school level (AOR = 0.13 CI (0.03, 0.61)), when compared with those with degree and above. This shows that perception towards mental illness is higher among educated people.

Community’s perceptions of mental illness were also found associated with occupational status. Private workers will have poor perception when compared with government employees (AOR = 0.41 CI (0.09, 0.87)). Mental health information is also associated with perception of mental illness. Having mental health information from any sources is more likely associated with good perception of mental illness (AOR = 0.133 CI (0.09, 0.2)).

The likelihood of having good perception among individual with no family history of mental illness is 63% less when compared with those having family history of mental illness (AOR = 0.37 CI (0.21, 0.66)) (Table 5).

Table 5: Distribution of factors associated with community’s perception of mental illness among residents of Gimbi town, West Wellega Zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2014.

Variable
Perception
Crud OR 95% CI
Adjusted OR

Good (%)
Poor (%)

Age

18–28
215 (68.7)
98 (31.3)
1.00
1.00

29–38
210 (69.8)
91 (30.2)
1.05 (0.7, 1.5)
1.2 (0.8, 1.9)

≥39
87 (43.1)
115 (56.9)
0.35 (0.24, 0.50)
0.5 (0.30, 0.80)

Education

    Illiterate
40 (42.6)
54 (57.4)
0.41 (0.01, 0.18)
0.09 (0.02, 0.46)

    Elementary
138 (48.4)
147 (51.6)
0.05 (0.01, 0.22)
0.07 (0.02, 0.33)

    High school
187 (66.8)
93 (33.2)
0.11 (0.03, 0.47)
0.13 (0.03, 0.61)

    Diploma
118 (93.3)
8 (6.7)
0.77 (0.16, 3.80)
1.35 (0.25, 7.24)

    Degree & above
36 (94.7)
2 (5.3)
1.00
1.00

Occupation

    Government
100 (88.5)
13 (11.5)
1.00
RC

    Private
121 (44.8)
149 (55.2)
0.11 (0.06, 0.20)
0.41 (0.19, 0.87)

    Merchant
188 (73.4)
68 (26.6)
0.36 (0.19, 0.68)
1.25 (0.60, 2.69)

    Student
42 (63.6)
24 (36.4)
0.23 (0.11, 0.49)
0.62 (0.25, 1.56)

    Housewife
61 (55.0)
50 (45.0)
0.16 (0.08, 0.32)
0.84 (.36, 1.96)

Mental health information
Yes 423 (75.0)
141 (25.0)
1.00
RC

No 89 (35.3)
161 (64.7)
0.18 (0.13, 0.25)
0.133 (0.09, 0.2)

Family history of mental illness
Yes 74 (74.0)
26 (26.0)
1.00
RC

No 438 (61.2)
278 (38.8)
0.14 (0.35, 0.89)
0.37 (0.21, 0.66)

value < 0.05; RC: reference category.

4. Discussion

This community based cross-sectional study identified important information on community perception towards mental illness. Significant number of the respondents from Gimbi community had poor perception of mental illness. This study is in line with the study conducted in India where 39.4% of the respondents were found to have poor perception about mental illness [14]. But it is not consistent with study done in Iraq where 30% of the respondents were with poor perception of mental illness [13]. The variation might be due to socioeconomic and cultural difference among respondents.

This study demonstrated that there was higher proportion of poor perception of mental illness among those above 39 years of age compared to the youth. The finding is not consistent with a study done in North Western Ethiopia, Agaro town, where younger respondents were more likely to hold socioenvironmental deprivation responsible for mental and physical illnesses than older respondents [18]. This could be due to the difference in educational level between these two groups or may be due to the fact that the younger respondents may have access to information. Also in study done in Iraq and India no significant association was found with age regarding the community’s view of mental illness. This could be due to the tool used or sample characteristics as rural and urban community are involved in both studies [13, 14].

Educational level was found to be one of the sociodemographic characteristics significantly affecting perception of mental illness in this study. Respondents who have no formal education are by 90% more likely to have poor perception when compared with degree holders and above. This finding is in agreement with the study done in Agaro town [18]. Study done in Nigeria also found out that perception of mental illness correlates with educational level [20]. Less educated respondents were more likely to attribute mental illnesses to supernatural retribution. This could be due to poor understanding of scientific explanation regarding causation of mental illness.

Occupational status was significantly associated with perception of mental illness. Government employees will have good perception of mental illness compared to private workers, which implies those in government organization may have more access to current policies, directions, and strategies relatively than those in private organizations. However this finding is not clearly observed in other studies. This may be due to the difference of tool used.

In addition, respondents having information about mental illness from any source were of good perception of mental illness compared to those having no information. This finding is in line with the study done in Karfi region of Nigeria [15]. Theory of psychology also supports this fact. According to psychologists’ point of view, perception can be deductive or inductive. If perception is deductive, no probabilistic association needs to be added and no cognition is required. Information is sufficient and deductive perception is possible. If however perception is inductive some premises come from cognition and memory [21].

Family history of mental illness is also another factor found associated with perception of mental illness among Gimbi community. Those who do not have family history of mental illness are found more likely to have poor perception of mental illness than those having family history of mental illness. This may be due to the fact that those having family history of mental illness may share experience. This experience may help them to develop good perception. This factor is also supported by psychologists’ explanation. According to Bill, perceptual experiences are experiences of mind-independent things and are themselves an account of the way in which they provide peculiarly basic reasons for beliefs about the world around the perceiver [22].

4.1. Conclusion and Recommendation

Significant proportions of community in Gimbi town have poor perception of mental illness. Poor perception of mental illness was common among old age people, those with low educational level, private workers, those who do not have mental health information, and those who do not have family history of mental illness. High level of educational status and access to mental health information strengthen the community’s perception of mental illness.

It is important to address the poor perception towards the mentally ill in order to make community based mental health care a reality. The community health professionals should work on awareness creation on mental ill issues at the community level providing relevant information. There is the need to provide more knowledge and increased awareness on the causes of mental illness and also dispel the myths around the causes of the disorders and treatment options.

Competing Interests

The authors declare they have no conflict of interests.

Authors’ Contributions

Jemal Ebrahim, Misael Benti, Tadesse Awoke, and Zegeye Yohannis designed the study, collected data, and participated in data analysis and interpretation. Jemal Ebrahim and Asres Bedaso prepared the manuscript. All the authors saw and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Amanuel Mental Specialized Hospital for financial support and providing necessary materials in support of undertaking this research. They would also like to appreciate Gimbi Town Health Office, supervisors, and data collectors who showed the greatest effort in acquiring appropriate information. Finally, they would like to acknowledge the study subjects who have kindly cooperated in providing the required information.

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