Recognition of mental disorders among a multiracial population in Southeast Asia

Abstract

BackgroundMental health literacy is an important mediating factor in help-seeking behavior. An important component of this literacy is the proper recognition of mental disorders. The aim of this population-based study in Singapore was to determine the proportion of adults in the resident population who were able to recognize vignettes pertaining to alcohol abuse, dementia, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia correctly. The sociodemographic characteristics that were associated with the ability to correctly recognize these disorders were also examined.MethodsThis was a nationwide cross-sectional study that involved establishing mental health literacy using a vignette approach. Respondents were recruited using a disproportionate stratified sampling design by age and ethnic groups. Face-to face-interviews were conducted with respondents aged 18 to 65 years belonging to Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other ethnic groups.ResultsA total of 3,006 respondents completed the survey (response rate of 71 %). The most well recognized conditions were dementia (66.3 %), alcohol abuse (57.1 %) and depression (55.2 %). The least recognized were OCD (28.7 %) and schizophrenia (11.5 %). Younger age and higher educational levels were found to be significant factors associated with the better recognition of specific disorders.ConclusionThe relatively high rate of recognition of dementia was likely to be due to the emphasis on public education programmes on dementia which is viewed as an emerging challenge due to Singapore’s rapidly ageing population. The role of education and the portrayal of depression and alcohol related problems in the local mass media are possible influences in their better recognition as compared to OCD and schizophrenia. Sociodemographic characteristics influencing mental health literacy need to be considered in planning intervention strategies that target mental health literacy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0837-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Singaporean public beliefs about the causes of mental illness: results from a multi-ethnic population-based study

“…Mental health professionals and MHL programmes may wish to consider these differences when educating lay people on the causes of mental illness. Chong et al (2016) found age differences in the same sample with younger adults (18-34 years) having better recognition of mental illnesses than those aged 35 years old and above. Younger adults also show less stigma towards mental illness and higher openness to seeking professional psychological help Subramaniam et al 2016).…”

“…The study yielded a response rate of 71%. More details on the study methodology are outlined by Chong et al (2016).…”

Attitudes to Mental Illness and Its Demographic Correlates among General Population in Singapore

“…Residents aged 50–65 years, Malays and Indians were over-sampled to ensure sufficient sample size for subgroup analysis. More detailed information on the sampling strategy is found in the paper by Chong et al [22]. …”

“…To ensure the conceptual equivalence of the instruments in the different languages, the whole translation procedure followed a process that was adapted from guidelines of the World Health Organization, which had been used among two previous national studies in Singapore [22, 23]. This included 1) single forward translation by a professional firm; 2) review by an expert panel comprising the professional translators, content experts and a layperson to identify and resolve any inadequate expressions in the translation and discrepancies between the translated and original version; 3) pre-testing and cognitive interviews among individuals representing the target population in term of the age-groups, gender, ethnicities, and socio-demographics; and 4) development of the final version [22]. …”

Beliefs About Help Seeking for Mental Disorders: Findings From a Mental Health Literacy Study in Singapore

“…All respondents provided written informed consent; for those under age 21, written informed consent was also obtained from their legally acceptable representative, parent, or guardian. More information about methods and procedures of the Mind Matters study is available elsewhere (15).…”