Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate knowledge and attitudes of rural community members towards mental illness. A total of 249 participants (female = 187; male = 62) of which 189 were aged below 30 while only 60 were between the ages of 31 and 95 were selected using simple random sampling method from Dikgopeng community, GaDikgale, through the Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) table. A quantitative cross-sectional research study was administered using the Mental Attitude Knowledge Scale (MAKS) and Attitude Scale of Mental Illness (ASMI). The MAKS and ASMI are structured 5point Linkert scale questionnaires translated from English into Sepedi. Demographic data were collected and using the demographic questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software package for Windows (Version 24) was used to analyse data collected and to draw conclusions. Two hypotheses were drawn from the study. Hypothesis one emphasized that there is a significant difference in the level of knowledge towards mental illness by members of GaDikgale community, according to gender and age. According to the present study, there was a mean effect of gender with male participants being more knowledgeable about mental illness as compared to female participants. It was revealed that there was no effect of age on the knowledge scale. Hypothesis two detailed that there is a significant difference in attitudes on mental illness by members of GaDikgale community according to gender and age.