Mental Health Professionals’ Attitudes Towards People with Severe Mental Illness: Are they Related to Professional Quality of Life?

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 58; no. 4; pp. 701 - 712
• Main Authors: Koutra, Katerina, Mavroeides, Georgios, Triliva, Sofia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitudes; Burnout; Burnout, Professional - psychology; Community and Environmental Psychology; Community health care; Compassion; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depersonalization; Fatigue; Female; Health behavior; Humans; Illnesses; Male; Males; Medical personnel; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Men; Mental Disorders; Mental Health; Mental health care; Mental health professionals; Original Paper; Professionals; Psychiatric-mental health nursing; Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Satisfaction; Severity; Stereotypes; Stigma; Sympathy; Burnout; Mental health professionals; Attitudes towards severe mental illness; Compassion satisfaction; Compassion fatigue
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-021-00874-x

The present study examines whether attitudes of mental health professionals (MHPs) towards severe mental illness are associated with professional quality of life. The Attitudes towards Severe Mental Illness (ASMI), the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Professional Quality of Life Scale-5 (ProQOL-5) were completed by 287 MHPs in Greece (25.4% males, 74.6% females). The results indicate that MHPs hold predominantly positive attitudes towards people with severe mental illness. Nonetheless, MHPs’ attitudes are deemed to be stereotypical according to ASMI concerning treatment duration, prospects of recovery, and whether patients are similar to other people. Higher scores in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, compassion fatigue and ProQOL-5 burn out dimension were significantly associated with MHPs’ unfavorable attitudes, whereas higher scores in compassion satisfaction and personal accomplishment were associated with MHPs’ positive attitudes. Assessing compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and burnout levels could help identify the processes involved in the development or maintenance of MHPs’ stigmatizing attitudes.