Factors Influencing the Attitude of Urban Residents Toward People Living with Mental Illness in Northwest, Nigeria

Objectives: The study investigated respondents’ attitudes toward people living with mental, illness the relationship between attitude toward those individuals and socio-demographic characteristics, and factors influencing attitude toward those individuals among urban residents of North-western Nigeria. Methods and Material: An analytic cross-sectional design adopted to interview 435 respondents recruited using multistage sampling technique. A structured interviewer-guided questionnaire was used to obtain data, organized and analyzed with SPSS version 20. The data were summarized using frequency distribution tables and percentages. Chi-square was used to test the relationship between attitude scores on people with mental health issues and socio-demographic characteristics at 5% level of significance, within a 95% confidence interval. Results: Half (50.8%) of respondents had a positive attitude toward people living with mental illness. Statistically, significant association was found between attitude toward those individuals and age (χ2=403.026, p=