Knowledge and perceptions of Indian primary care nurses towards mental illness

To assess nurses' knowledge and perceptions towards mental illness. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among 126 randomly selected nurses those are working under District Mental Health program in Karnataka (India). The data was collected through self-reported questionnaires Using the modified version of Public perception of mental illness questionnaire and Attitude Scale for Mental Illness. The findings revealed that majority of the subjects were women (74.4%), Hindus (92.1%) and were from rural background (69.8%). The mean Knowledge score 10.8±1.6 adequate knowledge (maximum possible =12) among 91% of the subjects, and 52% of them hold negative attitudes towards people with mental illness (88.9±13.6). While majority of the subjects hold negative attitudes in 'Separatism' (53.5%), 'Stereotyping' (73%), 'Benevolence' (54%), 'Pessimistic prediction' (53%) domains, they hold positive attitudes in 'Restrictiveness' (88%) and 'Stigmatization' (72%) domains. Women than men endorsed positive attitudes towards persons with mental illness in Stereotyping' (p