Malaysian Pharmacy Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions on Mental Health: a Cross-sectional Study

This study aims to explore pharmacy undergraduates’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions regarding various mental health disorders and mental health patients. A cross-sectional study design was used to achieve the desired objectives of this study. An online survey was developed using SurveyMonkey® software. The final year pharmacy students (n = 363) from 10 educational institutions in Malaysia were invited to participate in an online questionnaire. Responses were rated on a five-point Likert scale. Chi-square tests were used to determine associations between socio-demographic variables versus attitudes, whilst the Mann–Whitney U test was used to determine attitudinal differences between genders. In relation to educational background, over half conceded ample undergraduate training and perceived barely adequate knowledge on this topic. Nevertheless, less than half of the students were confident in providing advice to friends or family members with mental illness. Findings reported that positive attitudes were independent of students’ socio-demographic profile, and there were no significant differences in attitudes portrayed by both genders. In general, the pharmacy students held positive mental illness attitudes. However, there were dissatisfactions shown in regard to the existing mental health curricula and lack of readiness in providing care. Stepped up effort from respective parties should be reinforced to overcome this matter.