Assessment of Students’ Attitude towards Mental Illness in Vellore City, South India

Background: Mental illness is a major public health concern worldwide. Among college students, particularly those in rigorous academic programs such as engineering have increasingly reported stress, anxiety, and depression. Despite rising awareness, societal attitude towards mental illness continue to be influenced by misconceptions and cultural stigma. This attitude can profoundly affect help-seeking behavior. Thus, this study assessed the attitude of engineering students towards mental illness and factors influencing their attitude. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1140 undergraduate engineering students using complete enumeration from purposively selected two engineering colleges at Vellore, South India. Self-administered questionnaire of Attitude Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) was used. Students’ attitude regarding mental illness was further classified into positive and negative attitude. Ethical approval was taken prior to the conduction of study. Analysis like count, percentage, mean, standard deviation, range, t-test and f-test were computed to express the results. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Majority (97.5%) of the students had negative attitude towards mental illness. They agreed, individuals with mental illness have unpredictable behaviours (68.8%) and are dangerous even after treatment than normal people (70.0%). Statistically significant relationship was found between student’s attitude scores and branch of the course (p=0.023), parent’s occupation (p=0.005 and p=0.005) and parent’s education (p=0.006 and p=0.001), and those who studied biology at higher secondary level (p=0.002).Conclusion: Large number of undergraduate engineering students held negative attitude regarding mental illness. Misconception and stigma were evident among them. Therefore, study appeals to implement mental health education and stigma reduction programs in the target group.