Nurses Opinion about Mental Illness

Running head: Nursing Opinion 1
Nurses Opinion about Mental Illness
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution of Affiliation
Date

Nursing Opinion 2
Introduction
Mental illness is conditions that influence the thinking, behavior, and mood of a person.
Some of the common types of mental illness include; bipolar disorder, clinical depression,
schizophrenia, dementia and anxiety disorder. Nurses contribute significantly to the care of a
patient during hospitalization, and nursing students are an essential factor in the delivery of
mental health care. Most nursing students have portrayed a positive attitude towards mental
illness. However, some nursing students in Saudi Arabia have portrayed continuously to be
deprived in their ability and attitude towards mental illness hence having an adverse effect on the
care provision. Continuous criticism and undesirable view towards psychiatric patients are
related to general outcomes and patient's functioning. Some mental health nursing students in
Saudi Arabia view that dealing with mental illness patients as tiresome and hence requires extra
training. The negative view may cause discrimination, stigma, impact the quality of life and
affect social integration to those affected.
The opinion of nursing students toward mental illness
Several studies have been carried out across different countries to study the attitudes and
beliefs of healthcare providers concerning mental illness at both general healthcare facilities and
mental health. Some studies like in Finland showed that mental health nurses have a positive
attitude while in Taiwan they had a negative outlook, therefore, the opinion about mental illness
varies from country to country (AlYami & Watson, 2014). A literature review conducted shows
that there is a published quantitative study done in 2016 in Saudi Arabia to examine the attitude
of nursing students toward mental illness and the socio-demographic factors that are associated
with their attitude. The results of the study portrayed that nurse's attitude was usually positive,

Nursing Opinion 3
and others had a negative attitude. The positive attitude of a nursing student was mainly
influenced by experience, contact with a mental patient and age (Koenig et al, 2014).
A study that compared medical students in King Khalid University College of Medicine
in Abha about mental illness found out that there is a more negative attitude in the nursing
students of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The conclusion of the study is based on a survey
conducted on 52 nursing students at King Faisal University College of Medicine in Al-Ahsa.
82% of the nursing students had a negative attitude towards psychiatry because they were at risk
of being viewed by others as neurotic, odd or peculiar. Others portrayed that their negative
attitude was due to discouragement from their families and medical faculties (Miligi & Selim,
2014). They recommended that exposure to training in mental illness would improve their
attitude towards mental illness and psychiatry in general. They also suggested that it is essential
for them to be exposed to psychiatry as a portion of their regular training. Most of the 21 medical
schools in Saudi Arabia now have incorporated 3-12 weeks to be used for clinical clerkship
psychiatry for all medical students during their 5th or 6th years of training (Abdulghani, Al-
Drees, Khalil, Ahmad, Ponnamperuma & Amin, 2014).
A qualitative study was conducted from January to March 2017 to examine factors that
affect the attitudes and opinions of nursing students to patients with a mental illness. A purposive
sample of mental health nursing at the eastern region of Saudi Arabia was used for the study.
Data collection was conducted through the use of semi structured interviews and face to face
with ten mental health nursing students. The study showed that there exist a number of factors
that affect nursing student's perceptions and opinions on mental illness and the nurses suggested
various methods that can help in improving their attitude. Some factors that affect the opinions