Nursing Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Nursing, including details on health care, hospital staff, professional care.

Stigmatization by nurses against schizophrenia in Turkey: a questionnaire survey.

Kukulu K, Ergün G

Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. kkamile@akdeniz.edu.tr

Individuals who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia face discrimination, exclusion and stigmatization by society. Nurses who work on psychiatric wards frequently face individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia throughout their careers. This study was conducted for the purpose of evaluating nurses' opinions about individuals who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. A total of 543 nurses working on the psychiatric wards of 27 university hospitals (164), six training and research hospitals (21) and six psychiatric hospitals (358) in Turkey completed the questionnaire. The majority of the nurses stated that schizophrenia is caused by social problems, that they would be able to work with someone who has schizophrenia, that they would not be able to marry someone with schizophrenia, that they would not be bothered by having a neighbour with schizophrenia, that schizophrenia cannot be completely cured, that it can be improved with psychotherapy, that schizophrenic patients are aggressive and that medications used to treat schizophrenia have serious side effects and are addictive. It is important for nurses to avoid stigmatizing patients in order to promote a therapeutic environment--particularly on the wards--and also to improve individual awareness and perceptions in society.

Published 13 April 2007 in J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs, 14(3): 302-9.
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