Measurement of stigmatisation level towards mental illness patients among urban and rural communities

This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the level of stigmatisation among urban and rural communities towards mental illness patients, to investigate study variables that differentiate, associate, correlate and predict the level of stigmatisation among urban and rural communities on mental illness patients and to determine the validity and reliability of the study instruments. The self-administered bilingual questionnaires consisted of socio-demographic and other (n = 11 items) and attribution questionnaire (AQ-9) (n = 9 items; 9 stereotypes) were disseminated to urban (Shah Alam) and rural (Rembau) adults (≥ 18 years old) that able to speak and write Malay or English using convenience sampling method. Using Rasch analysis, the AQ-9 instrument was found to be reliable and valid. Data were analysed descriptively and inferentially by using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 21.0. The confidence interval was set to 95% and level of significant was set at p < 0.05. Urban respondents had a significant higher pity level, and significant lower dangerousness stereotype, lower blame, lower anger, and lower coercion compared to rural respondents. The mean scores obtained by women respondents were significantly higher than men in referring to dangerousness, fear, segregation and coercion stereotypes. Respondents who were familiar with mental illness tend to have significantly higher pity compared to respondents who were not familiar with mental illness. Also, respondents who were familiar with mental illness tend to have significantly lower blame stereotypes compared to respondents who were not familiar with mental illness. There was a significant decrease in blame among respondents who were familiar towards schizophrenia term compared to respondents who were not familiar. The level of stigmatisation among urban and rural communities on mental illness patients was significantly associated to living area and gender of the respondents. The age negatively low correlated with the fear towards mental illness patients among urban and rural communities. Some predictors were found to be significant in a few stereotypes including familiarity with mental illness (pity), gender and highest level of education (dangerousness), gender (fear), familiarity with schizophrenia (blame) and gender and living area (coercion). The elements of stigmatisation toward mental illness need to be addressed to public for betterment in quality of life and health be it the public or respective sufferer in creating concerned and loving communities.