A COMMUNITY ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE MENTALLY-ILL

Aim. To assess the general community's knowledge of mental illness and personal experience of people with mental illness. Method. Three hund red randomly selected Dunedin residents were surveyed by a postal ques tionnaire. The instruments used to measure attitudes were a shortened form of the Californian attitudes towards mental illness scale (CAMI s cale)(1) and a social distance scale. In addition, questions were aske d about the respondent's age, gender, marital status, level of educati on, their main source of opinion, their experience with the mentally i ll, and their beliefs about the causes and types of mental illness. Re sults. Having known a person with mental illness facilitates more inti mate relationships with people with a mental illness. Sociodemographic variables did not predict attitudes on the CAMI scale. Most responden ts who had been in contact with the mentally ill held informed and enl ightened views. Conclusion. The community needs and welcomes informati on on the subject of mental illness and has a positive outlook for the future planning of the rehabilitation of people with mental illness.