Internalized stigma, social networks and recovery attitude among mentally Ill patients / Ahmed Gamal Eldin Mohamed Attia ; Supervised Mona Talat Elnady , Amal Alhossainy Ramadan

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Nursing - Department of Psychiatric Nursing

Internalized stigma of mental illness can result in negative feelings about self, maladapted behavior, less social engagement, significant barrier to psychological well-being and impairs the attitude toward recovery. The aim of this study: was to examine the relationship between internalized stigma, social networks and recovery attitude among mentally ill patients. Design: Descriptive correlational design was utilized in this study. Setting: the study held at the Outpatient Clinics of 2Psychiatric Medicine and Addiction Prevention Hospital - Cairo University Hospitals". Sample: A convenient sample of 250 patients with mental illness. Data collection tools were: Personal and medical data of participants, internalized stigma of mental illness inventory, Lubben social networks scale and recovery attitudes questionnaire. Results: there was significant statistical negative correlation between internalized stigma and social networks, there was no significant statistical correlation between internalized stigma and recovery attitude and there was no significant statistical correlation between recovery attitude and social networks. In addition, the study results revealed that more than two third of the participants had mild to moderate level of internalized stigma and the majority of the participants had positive attitude toward recovery from mental illness. Conclusion: Despite presence of higher rates of internalized stigma, the participants had positive attitude toward recovery from mental illness and the majority of participants had more social engagement with their families and friends

Issued also as CD