Journal of Bioequivalence & Bioavailability

Abstract

Pharmacy Students Attitude and Stigmatization of People with Schizophrenia in Pakistan

Sadia Shakeel, Safila Naveed, Wajiha Iffat, Sadaf Farooqi and Faiza Nazeer

The present study was conducted from April till Aug 2015 to evaluate pharmacy students’ attitude, social distance and stigmatization of people with schizophrenia. A questionnaire was distributed to final year pharmacy students in different universities of Karachi. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate students’ demographic information and their response to the questionnaire. Pearson chi-square test was used to evaluate the connection between gender and institution of the students with their response. Around 94% knew that schizophrenia is a chronic mental health condition characterized by a distortion of perceptions and thinking. About 87% opined that schizophrenia is not a contagious disease. More than 77% believed that there are environmental causes of schizophrenia whereas 52.44% thought that it is genetically inherited.
In general receptiveness for the majority of the questions was in affirmative. The findings of the study revealed that pharmacy students show positive attitude towards the patients of schizophrenia. It will help them in future practice to improve communication with mental illness patient and provide effective health care.