Nursing students' beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness: stigmatization, discrimination, and professional influences

Background: It is important that individuals with mental illness are not stigmatized by health professionals. Purpose: This descriptive correlational study aimed to determine the relationship between nursing students' beliefs about mental illness and their attitudes toward people with mental health problems. Methods: The study was conducted with 200 nursing students using the Descriptive Characteristics Form, Beliefs about Mental Illness Scale (BMI), and Community Attitudes Towards Mentally Ill Individuals Scale (CAMI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Anova, and pearson correlation analysis. Results: The mean BMI total score was 51.93 ± 17.38, and the mean CAMI total score was 58.85 ± 8.44. A moderate positive correlation was found between the two scales (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). Discussion: Nursing students demonstrated moderately negative beliefs and attitudes towards individuals with mental illness. Increasing the duration and quality of psychiatric clinical placements may improve students' attitudes and communication skills with these patients.