Attitude of people towards mental illness in rural community

Introduction: Mental illness, also called “mental health illness, refers to a wide variety of mental health conditions that affect mood, thinking and behavior”. Risk factors for negative attitudes include older age, lower education, male gender, ethnicity, and lower socioeconomic rank. Mental health sickness not only effects the individuals, it also affects their caregivers indirectly. Purpose of present study is to investigate the attitude of general public toward mental illness in community setting along with the factors influencing attitude toward mental illness.Maternal and Methods: Cross-sectional quantitative community-based study was conducted. The study conducted at community. Sample size was 120. Convenient sampling technique was used. Data was collected through questionnaire and analyzed by using SPSS version 21.Results: Among 120 participants maximum participants 65.5% were female and 32.5% were male. There are multiple reason of public attitude towards mental illness. It is closely linked with age and education. Results show that family history significantly affect attitude regarding mental illness.Conclusion: mental ill people cause violence. So, there is need to change the behavior of the people regarding mental illness. Educational and awareness program should be held at community level to enhance the knowledge regarding mental disorders.