COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE OF MENTAL-ILLNESS AND REACTION TO MENTALLY-ILL PEOPLE

Background. We test the hypothesis that negative attitudes to mentally ill people may be fuelled by a lack of knowledge. Method. A census of knowledge of mental illness was conducted in two areas prior to the o pening of long-stay supported houses for the mentally ill in each area . Three attitudinal factors (Fear and Exclusion, Social Control and Go odwill) which had been extracted by factor analysis of the Community A ttitudes toward the Mentally III (CAMI) inventory (see previous paper) were analysed in respect of their associations with knowledge of ment al illness. Results. Most respondents (80%) knew of somebody who had a mental illness but a substantial proportion of respondents had little knowledge about mental illness. Social Control showed an association with knowledge of mental illness. Groups who showed more socially cont rolling attitudes (especially those over 50 years old, those of lower social class, and those of non-Caucasian ethnic origin) had less knowl edge about mental illness. Regression analysis revealed that when know ledge was taken into account, age had no effect on Social Control and the effect of social class and ethnic origin was diminished. Responden ts with children, who showed more Fear and Exclusion, were not less kn owledgeable about mental illness. Conclusions. The results support the hypothesis that negative attitudes, especially in older people, are f uelled by a lack of knowledge. Negative attitudes among people with ch ildren are not related to a lack of knowledge.