To explore the differences, causes and countermeasures for mental patients' life quality between developed and developing regions.
 Methods: Based on the Quality of Life Questionnaire for Psychiatric Patients (QOL-P) and adopting convenient random sampling method, a total of 340 mental patients in Shanghai and Guangxi were investigated, and the data were analyzed by methods of Paired Design Crosstabulation Data hypothesis test, multivariate logistic regression, and independent sample Kruskal-Wallis test. The differences in patients' life quality in the 2 regions and the influential factors were evaluated.
 Results: There were high consistency and correlation in the total scores of self-evaluation items G (self overall evaluation of life quality by patient) between the 2 regions. Region and gender significantly affected mental patients' life quality in the basic demography characteristics in the 2 regions. The differences between total scores of 4 independent samples grouped by region and sex were significant (P<0.01). The male and femal patients in Guangxi in the dimensions of physiology, psychology, society and symptom were better than those in Shanghai (P<0.01). There was certain homoplasy between the patients from Shanghai and those from Guangxi in terms of the most prominent matters that affect the mental patients' life quality, with the former being affected more seriously than the latter.
 Conclusion: To a certain extent, the mental patients' life quality in the developing region (Guangxi) is better than that in the developed region (Shanghai).
China ; Diagnostic Self Evaluation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mentally Ill Persons ; psychology ; Quality of Life ; Sex Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate various factors associated with the willingness to visit psychiatric clinics among the general adult population in Bucheon city, South Korea. METHODS: One thousand seventy-five adults completed a self-questionnaire assessing their willingness to visit psychiatric clinics, family history of mental illnesses, frequency of contact with the mentally ill, stigma and discrimination toward the mentally ill, and the Community Attitude toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI). Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify variables associated with the willingness to visit psychiatric clinics. RESULTS: Study results showed that being single was associated with reduced willingness to visit psychiatric clinics. Subjects who had more frequent contact with mentally ill patients were more willing to visit psychiatric clinics. Concerning the CAMI scale, higher scores in authoritarianism and lower scores in benevolence subscales were associated with greater willingness to visit psychiatric clinic. Subjects who strongly admitted the existence of the stigma, and discrimination, toward mentally ill patients were more willing to visit psychiatric clinics. CONCLUSION: Enhanced understanding of the factors associated with the willingness to visit psychiatric clinics would be helpful in reducing barriers to mental health services utilization in the community.
Adult* ; Ambulatory Care ; Authoritarianism ; Beneficence ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Mental Health ; Mental Health Services ; Mentally Ill Persons

OBJECTIVES: Nurses and social workers are key persons connecting patients with psychotic disorders to psychiatric treatment. This study investigated the attitude of college students majoring in nursing science and social welfare toward psychiatric medication and stigma toward the mentally ill. METHODS: The study enrolled 553 college students (369 nursing science, 184 social welfare). We administered a five-item questionnaire to assess attitude toward psychiatric medication and a 20-item scale to assess stigma (prejudice regarding the dangerousness of the mentally ill and discrimination against the mentally ill). Factors associated with attitude toward psychiatric medication were identified. In addition, the stigma scale scores were compared with each item on attitude toward psychiatric medication. RESULTS: In the multivariate analysis, students majoring in social welfare had a significantly poorer attitude toward psychiatric medication than those majoring in nursing science. Age, senior grade, and experience to contact the mentally ill were also significantly associated with a good attitude toward medication, while attending psychiatry lectures, having a religion, and gender were not significantly associated with attitude toward psychiatric medication, although they showed relationships in the univariate analyses. For three of the five items, a negative attitude toward psychiatric medication was significantly associated with higher scores on the prejudice and discrimination scales. CONCLUSION: Prejudice toward and discrimination against the mentally ill are closely associated with a negative attitude toward psychiatric medication. An anti-stigma campaign should be developed that includes education to promote knowledge about psychiatric medications and reduce the stigma against the mentally ill. In addition, our findings suggest that experience to contact the mentally ill might improve attitudes toward psychiatric medication.
Dangerous Behavior ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Education ; Humans ; Lectures ; Mentally Ill Persons ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nursing* ; Prejudice ; Psychotic Disorders ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Schizophrenia ; Social Welfare* ; Social Workers ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to criticize the legal reasoning of refusal to insure or provide coverage to the mentally ill. This study focuses on the antagonistic fundamentals between legal rationality and social solidarity in insurance relationship. Findings of this study suggest that social solidarity should have the capacity to control legal rationality and economic efficiency. METHODS: This study surveyed affirmative actions of the state agencies against insurance discrimination through insurance codes of the Financial Supervisory Service, decisions of district courts, recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission, and legislation of the National Assembly. RESULTS: Actions of the state agencies to reduce insurance discrimination against the mentally ill are passive, ritualistic, and superficial. The policy failure of the state agencies is due to securing the principle of contract freedom without controlling insurance companies. CONCLUSION: In insurance relations, emphasizing the principle of contract freedom and the legal, economic rationality causes the socially marginalized to be excluded from social relations and face social danger in naked. Social solidarity and public interest is the legal reasoning that can overcome the economic rationality of insurance companies.
Discrimination (Psychology)* ; Disulfiram ; Freedom ; Human Rights ; Humans ; Insurance* ; Mentally Ill Persons*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify predictors influencing adjustment during army life after analyzing the relationship among relational self, community attitudes toward the mentally ill (CAMI), and adjustment during army life in Korea. METHODS: A cross sectional study design was conducted with 230 soldiers from two military units located in Y and B cities. Data were analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 18.0. RESULTS: Empathy-care showed significantly positive correlations with adjustment during army life. Avoidance of relationships showed significantly negative correlations with adjustment. Negative concepts in CAMI, such as authoritarianism and social restrictiveness, became were getting more negative. Positive concepts in CAMI, such as benevolence and community mental health ideology, were lacking. Significant factors were empathy-care, authoritarianism, overdependence on relations, and social restrictiveness which explained 30.1% (F=8.55, p<.001) of adjustment during army life. CONCLUSION: To improve military adjustment for soldiers, it is necessary to reduce misunderstandings of people with mentally illness as well as to make efforts towards systematic interpersonal relationship interventions for positive evaluation of self and others to enhance the mental health of soldiers.
Authoritarianism ; Beneficence ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Mentally Ill Persons* ; Military Personnel ; Self Psychology* ; Social Adjustment

OBJECTIVES: In Korea, the term for schizophrenia has been changed from 'split-mind disorder' to 'attunement disorder'. This study compared the stigma of, and prejudice against, people with schizophrenia, according to use of the term 'split-mind disorder' or 'attunement disorder'. METHODS: We conducted a survey of 360 college students majoring in nursing science in order to assess their prejudice regarding the danger posed by schizophrenia and discrimination regarding relationships and privileges for patients with schizophrenia using the social stigma scale and the discrimination scale for patients with mental illness, respectively. Study subjects were randomly divided into two groups, and the same scales were assigned to each group using different instructions, beginning with either 'split-mind disorder' or 'attunement disorder'. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, scores for prejudice with regard to the danger posed by, and discrimination against, patients with schizophrenia were significantly higher in the group assigned the term split-mind disorder, compared with the term attunement disorder. Scores for discrimination with regard to relationships and privileges were significantly lower for subjects with experience to contact the mentally ill, compared to those without such experience. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that renaming split-mind disorder as attunement disorder can result in reduced prejudice and discrimination against people with schizophrenia. In addition to renaming schizophrenia, implementation of anti-stigma campaigns, including contact with schizophrenia patients, may help to reduce discrimination against them.
Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Korea ; Mentally Ill Persons ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prejudice ; Schizophrenia ; Social Stigma ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective experiences of stigma among mentally ill persons. METHODS: Phenomenological methodology was used for the study. Participants were twelve people with mental illness enrolled at the S community mental health center in GyeongGi-Do. Data were collected via in-depth interviews from August 30 to October 1, 2010 and analyzed using Colaizzi's framework. RESULTS: Four themes and sixteen formulated meanings were identified for the stigma experiences of participants with mental illness. The four themes were 'Incapable of struggling against unfair treatment', 'Living as an outsider', 'Being constrained by oneself', 'Being in suspense over disclosure of oneself'. CONCLUSION: The results from this study underscore the need for an educational and awareness programs to reduce public stigma among the general population and self-stigma among people with mental illness. In addition, efforts are also needed to prioritize mental illness stigma as a major public health issue at the government and community level.
Adult ; Female ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Life Change Events ; Male ; Mentally Ill Persons/*psychology ; Middle Aged ; Qualitative Research ; *Social Stigma

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the frequency and status of mentally ill patients who registered in a community health center (CHC) but they could not be accessed. METHODS: A total of 233 mentally ill individuals who were registered to a CHC in B Metropolitan City participated in this survey. Data were collected from December 1 to 31, 2010 and analyzed. RESULTS: There were 140 (60.1%) community dwelling mentally ill patients who had been registered to that CHC but were not accessible. The major reasons of this inaccessibility were patients' rejection to be accessed (27.1%) and the wrong or missing address in hospital's discharge note (22.9%). The nursing problems of the subjects were rejection of medication (93.4%); poor personal hygiene (85.8%); violence including harassment of family member(s), assault, property destruction, threat with weapon (38.7%); and so on. Among 159 cases of referrals and requests for help immediate action with patient's compliance were only 8.8%. CONCLUSION: The findings show that mentally ill patients who had registered to the CHC but were not able to be accessed failed to be managed properly. This would become risk factors of social problems which threat to the community as well as individuals. Thus, we need to prepare programs for this population to make them take medicine at a minimum.
Community Health Centers ; Compliance ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Mentally Ill Persons ; Referral and Consultation ; Rejection (Psychology) ; Risk Factors ; Social Problems ; Violence ; Weapons

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate impact of knowledge, familiarity, and prejudice about mental illness as well as demographic factors on the social distance from mentally ill people, which is a proxy measure of discrimination. METHOD: To assess the impact of knowledge and familiarity, prejudice about mental illness and demographic factors on the social distance from mental illness, we conducted a telephone survey in South Korea with the responders being nationally representative people who were 18 years old or over (n=1040). Independent samples T-tests, one way ANOVA and linear regression analysis were performed to analyze the results of the survey. RESULT: The social distance from mental illness decreased as the knowledge and familiarity increased, but the social distance was increased as prejudice was increased. Prejudice had a greater impact on social distance than familiarity and knowledge. Females showed greater social distance than did males. A higher education level had a negative effect on social distance. CONCLUSION: To reduce the social distance from mentally ill people, efforts to increase the familiarity about mental illness as well as efforts to educate people about mental illness are important.
Adult ; Aged ; Analysis of Variance ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Knowledge ; Korea ; Male ; Mentally Ill Persons/*psychology ; Middle Aged ; Prejudice ; Questionnaires ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors ; *Social Distance

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the effects of a weight control program on body weight and the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior in psychiatric inpatients. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used. Data were collected from March 1 to September 30, 2007. Female mentally ill patients in closing psychiatry ward of H University Hospital participated in the study (16 persons in the experimental group and 13 in the control group). RESULTS: The weight control program including diet therapy, exercise, education and behavior modification therapy decreased the rate of weight gain in female mentally ill patients taking atypical antipsychotics, and effectively increased a sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior. CONCLUSION: Weight control program had a positive effect as a nursing intervention to decrease obesity and to increase the sense of efficacy for control of dietary behavior of psychiatric inpatients in psychiatric inpatients.
Adult ; Cognitive Therapy ; Diet Therapy ; Exercise ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Hospitals, Psychiatric ; Humans ; Inpatients/psychology ; Mentally Ill Persons/*psychology ; Middle Aged ; Patient Education as Topic ; Psychiatric Nursing ; *Weight Loss