A Study of the Attitudes towards Mentally Ill People among a Sample of Primary Health Care Physicians in Saudi Arabia

Background: Psychiatric illnesses are a public health problem worldwide, affecting people of all age. Mental health is an important sector of primary health care services. An increasing number of Saudi citizens and residents utilize primary healthcare services for mental health concerns; hence, there is a need to objectively assess these doctors' attitudes towards people with mental illness.

Objectives: Assessment of the attitudes toward mentally ill people among a sample of primary health care physicians in Saudi Arabia & determination of risk factors associated with bad attitudes.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 30 days (1st September 2021 to 30 September 2021). The study has been conducted on Convenient Sample of Arabic speaking physicians working in primary health care centers in Saudi Arabia who accepted to share in research. Demographic Data was gathered using an electronic self‑administered questionnaire and physicians’ attitudes towards mentally ill people have been evaluated by an Arabic previously validated Questionnaire.

Results: This study included 214 physicians, 114 male physicians and 100 females. 72% of participants have a highly positive attitude toward mentally ill patients with a mean score (50±4) and only 28% of participants have a negative attitude with a mean score (38±4). Better attitudes were significantly associated with being female, having (Board, PhD or Fellowship), working for less than a year and having a history of involvement in the care of a mentally ill person. There were no statistically significant differences regarding participants age, nationality, marital status, place and mode of residency, specialty, and having current or past history of mental illness.

Conclusions: Primary health care physicians in Saudi Arabia have positive attitudes toward mentally ill patients, female physicians , having (Board, PhD or Fellowship), working for less than a year and having a history of involvement in the care of a mentally ill person were significantly associated with better attitudes.

Recommendations: Further larger studies are needed on large number of primary health care centers physicians in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Additional research and programmatic work are needed to understand the reasons for negative attitudes. Effective teaching and training programs is necessary to bring in positive attitude change towards mentally ill people among primary health care physicians.