Objective: to describe the perception by Health Sciences students of persons with mental health problems, and to identify the factors associated with said attributions.
Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 2018. The sample included Nursing and Physical Therapy students from the Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud San Rafael-Nebrija from Madrid (Spain). Identification variables of the study subject were collected, and the AQ-27 Attribution Questionnaire was used, which consists of 27 items and nine factors informing about Blame, Anger, Pity, Dangerousness, Fear, Help, Segregation, Coercion and Avoidance. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out.
Results: the study included the participation of 262 Health Sciences students: 67.8% (n= 177) from Nursing and 32.2% (n= 84) from Physical Therapy; 77.4% (n= 202) were female. There was an 18-to-45-year-old age range; 9.3% had mental health training, 9.9% had working experience in the area, 23.3% presented a family background with mental health disorders, and 7% had a personal background. The highest mean values (standard deviation) were present in the following factors: “help” with 7.66 (1.37), “coercion” with 6.56 (1.62), and “pity” with 6.51 (1.36). The lowest values (p≤ 0.05) were found in “anger” with 3.41 (1.79) and “blame” with 2.50 (1.35). Statistically significant differences were found in Anger and Help in terms of the type of degree; in Segregation in terms of previous training in Mental Health; and in Dangerousness, Fear, Help, Segregation and Avoidance in terms of personal mental health background.
Conclusions: Health Sciences students stood out in the Help, Pity and Coercion dimensions, and obtained lower values in Anger and Blame. Previous training in mental health had impact on the Segregation factor. The presence of personal background in mental health had impact on these factors: Fear, Dangerousness, Help, Segregation and Avoidance.