Social Distance Towards Mental Illness Among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in a Nigerian University.

Objectives: To evaluate the level of social distance towards people with mental illness among pharmacy students in a Nigerian university and to explore its associated factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 433 pharmacy students in University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The 8-item Social Distance Scale was used to assess an individuals' avoidance reaction directed towards people with mental disorder. Descriptive statistics, Student's t test, and multivariate logistic regression were used for data analysis.

Results: Overall, the students demonstrated a low social distance towards people with mental illness. Lower social distance towards people with mental disorder was associated with younger students (p = 0.006) and students who have had contact with a person with mental illness (p = 0.026), who have visited a mental hospital (p = 0.019), who have experienced mental illness (p = 0.028), and who know a family member or friend with mental illness (p = 0.015). Independent predictors for high social distance towards people with mental illness were age of ≥25 years (odds ratio = 1.488, p = 0.046) and no prior visit to a mental hospital (odds ratio = 2.676, p = 0.016).

Conclusion: Our pharmacy students had a low social distance towards people with mental illness. Predictors for the low social distance were younger age and previous visits to a mental hospital. We recommend more robust educational and training programme, and increased exposure to clinical clerkship in psychiatry to improve social distance towards people with mental illness among pharmacy students.