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KMID : 0376219800170020417
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Chonnam Medical Journal
1980 Volume.17 No. 2 p.417 ~ p.427
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Pubic Attitude Toward Mental Illness in a Korean Island Community
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Abstract
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For the purpose of providing helpful basis for the prevention and treatment of mental illness and for understanding the accultuatuation process. or sociocultultural characteristics associated with psychiatric practice, the author tried to evaluate public attitude toward mental illness in a Korean island community.
The author adopted the structured interview form of Terashima revision originally constructed by Star.
Each of 277 subjects born and resided in Baikya island and another neighbor island of Yier Chun-Goon,Chun-Nam, especially who had lived for more than 2 generations, was interviewed by psychiatric residency.
Because of biased distribution of the samples in age, education and religion, the data-processing was duly controlled.
1. Psychotic patient was perceived as dangerous, violent and not understandable person by 70% of island subjects, as lonesome person by 21%, as having deep-seated mental trouble by 9%.
2. Neurotic person was perceived as person who had mild mental illness by 33% of island subjects, and who had physical weakness by 24% of the subjects.
3. Thirty nine percentage of the subjects responded; if one of their family members were mentally ill, they would feel shameful; but 74% of them responded they would frankly noted this fact to their friends.
4. Seventy five percentage of the subjects accepted prognostic view on mental illness favorable, whereas their expectation for psychiatric treatment was more negative than in the urban community.
5. Sharp contrasts were seen in public attitude toward mental illness among groups of different age, education, and religion;
a. The higher in education, the more frequently the mental illness was accepted as psychologically originated illness caused by deep-seated mental trouble, and their expectation for psychiatric treatment was more affirmative.
b. The older in age, the more humanistic in attitude toward the mental illness.
c. In the group of traditional religion, the respondents showed comparatively negative response not only to the therapeutic function but also to the open ward policy of mental hospital. Their prognostic view of mental illness was more pessimistic than Protestant and catholic. Whereas their attitude toward mental illness was more humanistic & acceptable.
6. Consequentially, cultural influence on attitude toward mental illness could be tentatively hypothesized as the influence of traditional culture facilitates more affirmative and humanistic attitudes for the mental illness and more negative response not only to the therapeutic function but also to the open ward policy of mental hospital.
7. Considering the results in view of community psychiatry, positive and humanistic attitudes would facilitate favorable tertiary prevention of mental illness with acceptable atmosphere for the improved patients. On the contrary seconary prevention might be hampered by overprotective attitudes toward mental illness and negative response to the therapeutic function of mental hospital resulting in a difficult social atmosphere in detecting patients.
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