Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 28:15:2177-2188.
doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S379041. eCollection 2022.

Beliefs and Attitudes of Health Care Professionals Toward Mental Health Services Users' Rights: A Cross-Sectional Study from the United Arab Emirates

Ayesha Abdulla  1 , Heather C Webb  2 , Yasser Mahmmod  3 , Heyam F Dalky  4
Affiliations

Beliefs and Attitudes of Health Care Professionals Toward Mental Health Services Users' Rights: A Cross-Sectional Study from the United Arab Emirates

Ayesha Abdulla et al. J Multidiscip Healthc. .

Abstract

Purpose: The beliefs and attitudes of healthcare professionals (HCPs) towards service user's rights in mental healthcare are critical to understanding as it impacts the quality of care and treatment, leading to social discrimination and possible coercive professional practices. This study aimed to investigate the association between the HCPs' beliefs and attitudes towards service users' rights in seeking treatment in the UAE and to identify or may predict the stigmatized attitudes and behaviors among HCPs.

Patients and methods: Data was collected from HCPs participants working at three healthcare entities (n=307) allocated at selected primary and tertiary healthcare settings that specifically treat mental disorders. The Health Professionals Beliefs and Attitudes towards Mental Health Users' Rights Scale (BAMHS) questionnaire was used to assess the beliefs and attitudes. Unconditional associations using regression models included whether HCPs provide care to specific mental health patients, whether treating mental health patients is part of their jobs, whether HCPs receive professional training for mental healthcare, nationality of HCPs, and the number of years of professional experience.

Results: Our findings demonstrate that HPCs understand mental disorders and feel that individuals' rights should be equal to those who do not have mental disorders while believing in autonomy and freedom, but there is a level of discrimination and a high level of social distance. HCPs are less tolerant when interacting with those with mental disorders outside their professional lives.

Conclusion: Interventions with long-term follow-up activities must be implemented and assessed using assessment systems that measure acquired knowledge and actual behavioral change to ensure anti-stigma impact in practice and policy.

Keywords: BAMHS; HCPs; attitudes; mental disorder; service users’ rights; the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. de Jacq K, Norful A, Larson E. The variability of nursing attitudes toward mental illness: an integrative review. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2016;30(6):788–796. doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2016.07.004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Clement S, Schauman O, Graham T, et al. What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychol Med. 2014;45(1):11–27. doi:10.1017/s0033291714000129 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hansson L, Jormfeldt H, Svedberg P, Svensson B. Mental health professionals’ attitudes towards people with mental illness: do they differ from attitudes held by people with mental illness? Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2011;59(1):48–54. doi:10.1177/0020764011423176 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hamilton S, Pinfold V, Cotney J, et al. Qualitative analysis of mental health service users’ reported experiences of discrimination. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2016;134(S446):14–22. doi:10.1111/acps.12611 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Corrigan P, Druss B, Perlick D. The impact of mental illness stigma on seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychol Sci Public Interest. 2014;15(2):37–70. doi:10.1177/1529100614531398 - DOI - PubMed