Recognition and beliefs about treatment for mental disorders in mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose This review aimed to systematically investigate the Chinese public’s ability to recognize specific mental disorders and their knowledge and beliefs about available treatments. Methods Eight electronic databases were searched to identify quantitative studies examining recognition of depressio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2020-02, Vol.55 (2), p.129-149
Main Authors: Li, Wenjing, Reavley, Nicola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Anxiety
Care and treatment
Depression, Mental
Education
Epidemiology
Health aspects
Health literacy
Illnesses
Independent variables
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health care
Meta-analysis
Professional services
Psychiatry
Recognition
Residential areas
Review
Schizophrenia
Systematic review
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose This review aimed to systematically investigate the Chinese public’s ability to recognize specific mental disorders and their knowledge and beliefs about available treatments. Methods Eight electronic databases were searched to identify quantitative studies examining recognition of depression, anxiety and/or schizophrenia, knowledge and beliefs about treatments, and/or correlates of each of the three constructs among the general population in China. Prevalence estimates were calculated for themes under each construct. Effect size r was computed for each relationship between an independent variable and one of the three constructs. Results A total of 65 studies ( N  = 174,253) were included in this review. Depression (25.4%), anxiety (18.2%) and schizophrenia (18.4%) had low recognition rates. More than 80% of people agreed that one should seek professional help for mental illnesses, but fewer than 40% were likely to use professional services for their own mental health issues. Regarding psychiatric medications, 57% of the respondents agreed that medications should be taken regularly, but more than 60% believed that they would be harmful. Gender, income, residential area, occupation, education and marital status were significantly associated with level of mental health knowledge. Conclusions The public’s level of mental health literacy related to recognition of specific mental disorders, and knowledge and beliefs about treatments is still relatively low. The government should consider public education campaigns to improve this.
ISSN:0933-7954
1433-9285
DOI:10.1007/s00127-019-01799-3