Patients' and caregivers' knowledge and beliefs about mental illness in mainland China: A systematic review

This review aimed to systematically investigate patients' and caregivers' knowledge and beliefs about mental illness in mainland China. A total of 48 eligible studies (N = 11 895) were retrieved from eight electronic databases. Prevalence statistics were computed for themes (eg, stress) under each construct relating to knowledge or belief about mental illness (eg, beliefs about causes). Effect size r was calculated for each correlation with an identified construct. We found that only 27.8% of patients recognized the symptoms of schizophrenia. Although 65% of caregivers declared that they knew the names of the disorders that their ill relatives had, depression (43.6%), schizophrenia (28.5%) and anxiety disorders (18.1%) had low recognition rates. Both caregivers and patients preferred psychosocial explanations of mental illness. Pharmacological interventions (eg, antipsychotics), non-specific actives (eg, "getting out and learning more"), mental health professionals (eg, psychiatrists) and informal support (eg, family) were each considered helpful for different disorders by caregivers, whereas regular contact with mental health professionals was not highly rated as helpful by patients. Additionally, while more patients knew about the effects of the medications that they were taking, more caregivers emphasized the importance of medicine adherence. Psychosocial variables (eg, family burden) demonstrated significant effects on both groups' mental health literacy. The government should invest more in supporting caregivers of people with mental disorders and monitor the implementation of mental health policies.