Abstract:

Background: Mental illness is the major health problem affecting approximately 25% of the world population suffers from some form of mental illness with depression and anxiety being the most common cause. This study aimed to identify stigma of mental illness and help seeking behaviour for mental health among undergraduate nursing student at CUHAS.

Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among 77 students from June 2023 to September 2023. A simple random sampling procedure was used, Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire through online Google form which includes 16 questions. For data analysis, the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used, Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, and prevalence were used for data analysis for the aim to determine the stigma of mental illness and help seeking behaviour toward mental health among undergraduate nursing students.

Results: The study findings revealed that the majority were 20-25 years (77.9%) of CUHAS undergraduate nursing students and (84.4%) were unmarried. Different types of stigma affecting the undergraduate nursing students which included public stigma, personal stigma, professional stigma and institutional stigma were 64.9%, 24.7%, 23.4% and 18.2% respectively. Public and personal stigma was not associated with help-seeking behaviour.

Conclusion: Different types of stigma may lead to poor help-seeking behaviour, this nebessitate urgent need for stigma reduction campaign so as to reduce stigma.