Attitudes towards mental illness: a comparison of post-basic nursing students with science students

Two groups of Nigerian university students were compared in terms of their attitudes towards mental illness. Responses on the OMI scale questionnaire items on attitudes towards mental illness were examined. Subjects were 37 registered general nurses from the Faculty of Medicine and 15 science students from the Faculty of Science. Differences between the nurses and science students not attributable to age were observed in Factors A : Authoritarianism, B: Benevolence and D: Social restrictiveness. The nurses scored lower on the above mentioned factors while they scored higher on Interpersonal etiology and Mental hygiene ideology. Also intercorrelation between the five factors was done. Positive correlation was found between Authoritarianism and Social restrictiveness and also between these two factors and Benevolence.