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Opinions About Mental Illness Among Primary School Teacher Trainees in Kenya

Received: 2 May 2016    Accepted: 20 May 2016    Published: 1 June 2016
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Abstract

This study aimed to determine and document the opinions about mental illness among public primary teacher trainees in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to identify four public teacher colleges out of the twenty. Self-administered demographic questionnaire and opinions about mental illness scale were presented to the participants to collect data. The OMI consisted of five factors of authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, mental hygiene ideology and interpersonal etiology. Ethical protocol was followed from getting authority to informed consent from the participants. Out of the 2925 questionnaires presented, 2777 were returned fully filled, a return rate of 94.34%. Summative scores indicated moderate towards more negative opinions about mental illness, with significant differences in year of study, gender, marital status, or ever taught before coming to college. There was a correlation between all the OMI factors. This study found negative opinions about mental illness among these participants and recommended on an intervention in order to improve attitudes towards help in seeking help.

Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11
Page(s) 62-68
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Mental Illness, Opinions, Teacher Trainees

References
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  • APA Style

    Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga, Maurice Barasa. (2016). Opinions About Mental Illness Among Primary School Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 5(3), 62-68. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11

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    ACS Style

    Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga; Maurice Barasa. Opinions About Mental Illness Among Primary School Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2016, 5(3), 62-68. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11

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    AMA Style

    Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga, Maurice Barasa. Opinions About Mental Illness Among Primary School Teacher Trainees in Kenya. Psychol Behav Sci. 2016;5(3):62-68. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11,
      author = {Eunice Jemalel Nyavanga and Maurice Barasa},
      title = {Opinions About Mental Illness Among Primary School Teacher Trainees in Kenya},
      journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
      volume = {5},
      number = {3},
      pages = {62-68},
      doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20160503.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20160503.11},
      abstract = {This study aimed to determine and document the opinions about mental illness among public primary teacher trainees in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to identify four public teacher colleges out of the twenty. Self-administered demographic questionnaire and opinions about mental illness scale were presented to the participants to collect data. The OMI consisted of five factors of authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, mental hygiene ideology and interpersonal etiology. Ethical protocol was followed from getting authority to informed consent from the participants. Out of the 2925 questionnaires presented, 2777 were returned fully filled, a return rate of 94.34%. Summative scores indicated moderate towards more negative opinions about mental illness, with significant differences in year of study, gender, marital status, or ever taught before coming to college. There was a correlation between all the OMI factors. This study found negative opinions about mental illness among these participants and recommended on an intervention in order to improve attitudes towards help in seeking help.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AB  - This study aimed to determine and document the opinions about mental illness among public primary teacher trainees in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to identify four public teacher colleges out of the twenty. Self-administered demographic questionnaire and opinions about mental illness scale were presented to the participants to collect data. The OMI consisted of five factors of authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, mental hygiene ideology and interpersonal etiology. Ethical protocol was followed from getting authority to informed consent from the participants. Out of the 2925 questionnaires presented, 2777 were returned fully filled, a return rate of 94.34%. Summative scores indicated moderate towards more negative opinions about mental illness, with significant differences in year of study, gender, marital status, or ever taught before coming to college. There was a correlation between all the OMI factors. This study found negative opinions about mental illness among these participants and recommended on an intervention in order to improve attitudes towards help in seeking help.
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Author Information
  • The Technical University of Kenya, Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology, School of Social and Development Studies, and Department of Human and Social Development, Kenya, Nairobi

  • Health Information Systems Advisor, The MDG Centre of Columbia Global Centre, Nairobi, Kenya

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