A STUDY TO ASSESS THE ATTITUDE OF NURSING STUDENTS TOWARDS MENTAL SICKNESS

Abstract

A study to assess the attitude of the student nurses towards mental sickness was conducted in a nursing institute. It was a descriptive research study conducted on a sample of 100 student nurses with 25 students from each of the B.Sc. Nursing 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year & 4th year. National Mental Health Program was initiated in India because of the magnitude of the problem of mental sicknesses. Nurses play an important role in prevention, promotion and treatment of mental sicknesses. The attitude was assessed by questionnaire consists of 30 questions having 5-point Likert format from 1- 5. No student was found to be having negative attitude towards mental health. Whereas 90% students were found to be having positive attitude and rest 10% were found to be having neutral attitude towards mental health Significant association was found between the age of the students and attitude. It was revealed thatattitude turned more positive with age. Attitude had no relationship with any of the socio demographic variables. Key Words: mental sicknesses, attitude, questionnaire.