The present study was to assess the attitude towards mental illness among Basic B.Sc. Nursing students. A non-experimental descriptive design was chosen for the study, the samples were selected for study by adopting non-probability purposive sampling techniques the sample selected for present study were 60, the data collected by structured attitude scale having 10-10 questions of two attitude factors that is authoritarian and optimistic attitude. The analytical reports of the study explains that for the authoritarian attitude demographic variable such as age, gender, year of the study, attended Programme of awareness for mental illness, MHN as current subject, and posting in psychiatric wards have obtained value below the level of tabulated value at the level of 0.05. Other demographic variable such as locality and having family member with mental illness obtained value above the level of tabulated value at the level of 0.05. For the optimistic attitude demographic variables such as gender, attended awareness Programme for mental illness, MHN as current subject, and posting in psychiatric ward obtained value below than tabulated value at the level of 0.05 and demographic variable such as age and year of the study obtained value above the tabulated value at the level of 0.05. Thus hypothesis H2 is accepted. So, it is inferred that there is significant association between demographic variable and attitude towards mental illness. The main conclusion from this study is that most of the 1st year students were having severe to moderate level of authoritarian attitude towards mental illness as well as most of the 4th year students having severe to moderate level of optimistic attitude towards mental illness. The findings show the imperative need for understanding the need for awareness programs on mental illness.
Keywords: Nursing students, Authoritarian attitude, Optimistic attitude, Mental illness
Abbreviation: MHN- Mental health nursing; H2- Hypothesis 2
