Assessment of public stigma towards mental illness among Nigerian graduates

Abstract

Background: Public stigma towards psychiatric disorders is a disadvantaged social portrait describing people with mental illnesses cutting across all spheres of life. Such collective unhelpful mindset has been described as the outcome triad of ignorance, prejudice and discrimination. Commonly, the stigma towards mental illness in Nigeria are high especially among healthcare providers, professionals in academics and adults in working in factories. None of these studies has accessed fresh university graduates’ stigma towards mental disorders. Considering the paucity of data on stigma towards the mentally ill among these group of people in Nigeria, the present study accessed public stigma level among fresh graduates that are currently undergoing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

Methods: A socio-demographic questionnaire was developed and attached to Stig-9 instrument. The participants filled the study instruments and analyzed to access the level of public stigma and associated variables among graduates engaged in the NYSC scheme.

Results: The social demographic variables revealed the mean age of participants was 25.87 years (SD = 2.88). Most participants were male and not married. Overall, stigma was found to be significantly higher in female gender and those unmarried as at the time of data collection.

Conclusion: The researchers concluded that public stigma towards mental illness is high among fresh graduates undergoing orientation for the NYSC scheme. The stigma is significantly high among the female gender and those who are not married. This pinpoints the need for the promotion of mental health and antistigma campaigns among youths.

Keywords: Public stigma; mental illness; graduates; NYSC