Assessment of Public Knowledge and Attitude Toward Mental Illnesses in Mosul City - Iraq

Background: Mental health is an integral part of health; in every society, there is persistent prejudice and societal rejection of those who have mental illness. Out of all the health issues, the general population has an inadequate knowledge of mental disorders.
Subject and Method: A Cross-sectional study was adapted to assess the public's knowledge and attitude toward mental illnesses. Data was collected from 800 participants who agreed to participate after visiting different health institutions in Mosul City during the data collection period. The data was collected over four months, from the 1st of November 2023 to the 1st of March 2024. Data was collected via a modified standardized questionnaire through a direct face-to-face interview with each participant. SPSS Version 26 software program was used for data analysis.
Results: Of 800 participants, with a mean age of 35.92, females form 55.1% of the study population, 83.4% of participants were from urban regions, 63.9% were unemployed, 53.6% were married, and 37% had a university education. The proportion of participants with overall accepted knowledge scores was 52%. Age, occupation, education, and marital state had a significant association with knowledge level. The overall positive attitude toward mental illness was 76.5%, and there were no significant differences in positive attitudes between different sociodemographic strata.
Conclusions: About half of the study population had poor or inadequate knowledge about mental illnesses. The knowledge level is associated with some sociodemographic features of participants. On the other hand, the study population had a relatively unfavorable attitude about mental illnesses with no significant association with the study populations' sociodemographic features.
It is advised that health education about mental health problems be enhanced by using community campaigns and local media.