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March 25-26, 2019 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
2
nd
Global Public Health Congress
Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education | ISSN : 2161-0711
Volume 09
Global Public Health 2019
J Community Med Health Educ 2019, Volume 09
DOI: 10.4172/2161-0711-C2-057
Stigma related mental health knowledge among community health workers - a cross sectional assessment
Vikram Arunachalam
1
, Savitha SK
2
, Vedavathi
2
and
Anish V Cherian
3
1National Urban Health Mission, India
2Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, India
3National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, India
Introduction:
The accreted social health activists (ASHAs) or the community health workers have been involved in improving
maternal and child health over a decade in rural India. There is growing evidences that in mental health resource poor settings, a
‘task-shifting’ strategy would be advantageous, where the community or the lay health workers (like ASHAs) provides front-line
mental health care, instead of mental health professional at a primary care level. However, there is limited data on delivering the
mental health services delivered through ASHAs in mental health resource scarce urban slums setting.
Aim:
The aim of the present study is to assess the knowledge and attitude towards mental illness among ASHAs serving in
government primary health centers in urban Bengaluru, India.
Materials &Methods:
Across-sectional study was conducted among randomly selectedASHAworkers (n=150) in urban Bengaluru
in the Karnataka state. Data were collected through mental health knowledge schedule (MAKS), and reported and intended behaviour
scale (RIBS), self-administered questionnaire designed assess mental health knowledge and attitude towards mental illness. Data
were computed using SPSS. The mean age of the participants was 38.6±5.68 years and educated at least tenth grade (66.1%) or
above (20.2%). The mean year experience in the health field as ASHAs was 4.27±2.36 years. TheASHAs had lower score on MAKS.
Results:
Our results show relatively lesser knowledge about mental health among ASHAs. Thus, indicating the need to develop
training module to train the ASHAs for early identification of mental illness from the community and refer to available mental health
service.