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ABSTRACT
In Nigeria, as in many countries, mental health disorders have emerged as a pressing public health issue that demands attention and effective interventions. This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, belief and attitude towards mental health disorders among nursing students in the University of Benin, Edo State. The study employed a descriptive survey research design, a well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 246 students from the department of nursing science in the University of Benin using a simple random sampling technique. The results of The study showed that 41.9% have a poor level of knowledge, 15.4% have a fair level of knowledge while the remaining 42.7% have a good level of knowledge of mental health disorders. For belief towards mental health disorders, 58.1% have poor beliefs, 28% have fair beliefs while the remaining 13.8% have good beliefs. For attitude, the general attitude towards mental health disorder ranks in the negative with majority 183(74.4%) respondents disagreeing and strongly disagreeing to the points that exhibit good positive attitudes towards mental health. The study also showed that the factors affecting the belief and attitude towards mental health disorders stem from cultural and religious beliefs. The study concluded that the respondents had fair level of knowledge of mental health disorders, low level of belief regarding mental health disorder, and poor attitude towards mental health disorders. There is need to improve the level of knowledge and address the beliefs and attitudes towards mental health disorders by the department and other official bodies in the University to organize health seminars occasionally to sensitize students on mental health matters and comparative studies can be conducted among students from other nursing schools in Edo State.
Keywords: Knowledge, Belief, Attitude, Mental Health Disorders
