A survey into student nurses' attitudes towards mental illness: implications for nurse training

This paper reports on a survey of attitudes to mental illness that was completed with a cohort of pre-registration nurses in 2007 in a large university in Essex. The background literature highlights the effects of attitudes on stigma, disadvantage and discrimination and presents a brief review of the literature on cultural variations in attitudes. It also briefly reviews the attitudes of health professionals to mental illness. A survey using the Community Attitudes to Mental Illness questionnaire was completed and ethnicity proved to be an important factor in accounting for variations in attitudes to mental illness. The Black and Black British group displayed less positive attitudes across all nursing branches when compared to the white group. The differences raised questions about how best nurse training can prepare nurses to practice in culturally sensitive ways that acknowledge the beliefs of patients whilst avoiding stereotyping and discrimination. Personal contact with someone with mental illness was also found to be a significant factor and the importance of user involvement in training is discussed. The paper concludes with some recommendations for nurse training that include greater use of teaching strategies that challenge beliefs and assumptions and promote a commitment to multicultural mental health practice.