Perceived Knowledge and Attitudes Pertaining to ‘People with Mental Illness (PwMI)’: A Sri Lankan Perspective | The International Journal of Indian Psychȯlogy

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Comparative Study

| Published: December 25, 2016

Perceived Knowledge and Attitudes Pertaining to ‘People with Mental Illness (PwMI)’: A Sri Lankan Perspective

Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Department of Philosophy & Psychology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Google Scholar More about the auther

DIP: 18.01.103/20160401

DOI: 10.25215/0401.103

ABSTRACT

Conceptions of mental illness are often decided by the socio-cultural background and other socio-demographic factors. The aim of the present study was to assess the perceived knowledge, attitudes and perceived behaviors pertaining to mental illness within the Sri Lankan public. In order to achieve this aim, 167 participants (Females = 97; Males = 70) from 17districts in Sri Lanka were given a survey questionnaire to assess their knowledge, attitudes and perceived practices towards PwMI. The results conveyed that in general participants had high to moderate knowledge, were open minded, displayed pro-integrated attitudes and high to moderate sensitivity towards PwMI. Results also conveyed that there is a positive relationship among knowledge, attitudes, and perceived behaviors towards PwMI.

Keywords

Mental Illness, Attitudes, Knowledge, Perceived Behaviors, Sri Lanka

This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite this article:

: Pathirana B (2016), Perceived Knowledge and Attitudes Pertaining to ‘People with Mental Illness (PwMI)’: A Sri Lankan Perspective, International Journal of Indian Psychology, Volume 4, (1) DIP:18.01.103/20160401,DOI: 10.25215/0401.103