Salima Al-Mashrafi, Sumaia Al-Saadi, Waleed Al-Ruzaqi, Mohammed Al-Alawi, Salim Al-Huseini, Sathiya M. Panchatcharam and Samir AlAdawi
Objective: This study aimed to decipher the socio-demographic factors associated with the perception towards mental health problems among residents belonging to Oman Medical Specialty Board. Method: A cross sectional correlative study was conducted among a stratified random sample of residents. Attitude towards mental health problems (ATMHP) questionnaire was used to solicit the attitude of the residents. A non-parametric test (Manny-Whitney test) was employed to explore the association between resident's socio-demographic factors and the ATMHP scale. Results: A total of 170 participants consented, with a response rate of 94%. (Community Attitudes, Family Attitudes and reflected shame in selfsubscales;(Mean rank) of 6.94, p-value 0.010; 4.02, p-value 0.006 and 5.17, p-value 0.029, respectively), and the contract with a mentally ill(subscale of Community Attitudes; (Mean rank) 6.89, p-value 0.026. ) were found to correlate with higher scores on ATMHP subscales, signifying a negative perception. Conclusion: The present study has embarked on assessing the determinants of Oman's future doctors’ perception towards different aspects of mental health and illness. Gender and the contact a mentally ill were a significant variable affecting the resident’s perception. Such undertaking lays the ground for future work to mitigate the stigma of mental illness among the workforce in Oman's growing healthcare system.