The Perception of Mental Health: A Comprehensive Literature Review

This literature review examines the perception of mental health, focusing on the negative prejudices faced by mental health professionals and patients. It highlights the significant role of nurses in mental health care, citing various research studies that explore the impact of stigma and discrimination. The review discusses the rise in mental illness rates, particularly among students, and the unfavorable attitudes often held towards mental health. It references studies employing questionnaires and data from diverse sources to understand determinants of tolerance and stigma, such as social and political climates. The review also covers specific issues like the fear of dangerousness in Jamaica, the impact of lack of knowledge and negative attitudes, and the experiences of discrimination faced by individuals with mental health issues. It further explores the attitudes of healthcare professionals, the influence of simulation methods in dispelling misperceptions, and the effects of negative perceptions on clinical experiences and professional choices. The review emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues to improve therapeutic relationships and the quality of life for individuals with mental health disorders.

Perception of mental health

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Literature review on the perception of mental health
Today, the mental health professionals and ill patients are affected by the
negative prejudices of the general public. Nurses play a significant role in the field of
mental health care and most of the patients and their family members follow the
guidance of doctors and nurses (Al‐Zayyat, & Al‐Gamal, 2014). There are many authors
that research on this topic and argued to find the quality and best methods to avoid the
problem of mental health. In this modern generation stigma and discrimination, both
are main two obstacles facing in the perception of mental health. Moreover, it is
observed that the rate of mental illness has increased in the last few years and numbers
of students took admission in the nursing field to gather their knowledge in this sector.
According to the recent evidence, it is cleared that undergraduate students generally
hold the unfavourable attitudes towards perception of mental health.
For better understanding, most journal and researcher used a questionnaire
survey and they also collected relevant data from various resources such as journal
articles, books and online websites. It is identified that the around 71% response rate
was achieved by using the survey-based technique. There are main two strong
determinants of tolerance and stigma such as social and political climate and it is very
difficult to predict their attitudes towards the mental health (Timmins, Corroon, Byrne,
& Mooney, 2011). In Jamaica, the fear of dangerousness is the most common response
of mental health and in recent years many writers provided their views on the
perception of mental health nursing. Due to which there have been several increments
in the attitudes and tolerance and in the year 2009 a survey was conducted in which
around 732 people provided their views on the schizophrenia mental illness. With the
help of this survey, it was observed that the rate of mental illness is growing very fats in
many countries and Hoekstra, van Meijel, & van der Hooft-Leemans (2010) determine
that the stigma is defined as overarching terms which involve the issue of knowledge,
attitudes, behaviour. The lack of knowledge and negative attitudes can increase the
percentage of mental illness. According to Montes and Augusto, the most discriminating
experience identified by individuals with mental health was communicate with health
professionals. Due to lack of experience and contact with the patient, the problem of
mental health is increasing very fast and most of the investigation indicated that the

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negative attitude is very common problem occur with the mental health patients
(Montes‐Berges, & Augusto, 2007).
Mori (2009) compared the attitudes of 120 qualified mental illness nurses and
60 students towards people with the issue of schizophrenia. It is researched that in the
year 2020 around 14% people will be diagnosed due to the mental health disorder and
the problem of stigmas occur due to the lack of understanding of mental illness by
individuals. Past investigation showed that the attitudes towards mental health held
through healthcare specialists are very alike of the general community. They can impact
on the enhancement of a therapeutic relationship and positive attitudes can have a
positive impact on the quality of life and social or political communication.
According to the National Health Service, the poor or low attitude towards the
perception of mental health might be responsible for a lack of attention in the area of
mental illness nursing. It is investigated that the negative perception of mental health
care can affect the professional choice of patients and it also influences their careers in
health nursing. It is very difficult to produce the relationship with psychiatric patients
for the initial time and research shows that the negative perception can impact on the
outcomes of their clinical experiences (Sheu, Lin, & Hwang, 2008). There are few
authors that provided the proper investigation about mental health in which data was
collected after the scientific knowledge. Simulation is a type of process that provides a
way for patients to experience a realistic condition without taking any risk. This method
can be used in the mental health era because it helps to dispel miss-perception and
negative attitudes towards the psychological illness. In mental fitness disorder, the
simulation technique plays key roles that increase the student knowledge in the sector
of therapeutic communication and nursing interference services. According to the
Hunter the clinical knowledge, theory, and simulation process for the perception of
mental health will change the negative perception and attitudes of the student (Hunter,
Weber, Shattell, & Harris, 2015). With the help of this literature review, the readers can
enhance their knowledge in the area of mental health and they also identified the
positive and negative impact of the attitude and perception towards the mental illness.

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References
Al‐Zayyat, A. S., & Al‐Gamal, E. (2014). Perceived stress and coping strategies among J
Jordanian nursing students during clinical practice in psychiatric/mental health
courses. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 23(4), 326-335.
Hoekstra, H. J., van Meijel, B. B., & van der Hooft-Leemans, T. G. (2010). A nursing career
in mental health care: Choices and motives of nursing students. Nurse Education
Today, 30(1), 4-8.
Hunter, L., Weber, T., Shattell, M., & Harris, B. A. (2015). Nursing students' attitudes
toward psychiatric mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 36(1),
29-34.
Montes‐Berges, B., & Augusto, J. M. (2007). Exploring the relationship between
perceived emotional intelligence, coping, social support and mental health in
nursing students. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 14(2), 163-
171.
Mori, S. C. (2009). Addressing the mental health concerns of international
students. Journal of counselling & development, 78(2), 137-144.
Sheu, S., Lin, H. S., & Hwang, S. L. (2008). Perceived stress and physio-psycho-social
status of nursing students during their initial period of clinical practice: the effect
of coping behaviours. International journal of nursing studies, 39(2), 165-175.
Timmins, F., Corroon, A. M., Byrne, G., & Mooney, B. (2011). The challenge of
contemporary nurse education programmes. Perceived stressors of nursing
students: mental health and related lifestyle issues. Journal of Psychiatric and
Mental Health Nursing, 18(9), 758-766.