The attitudes of the Maltese general public towards people diagnosed with clinical depression

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes of the Maltese general public towards people diagnosed with clinical depression. The research question is -the influence of demographic variables on attitudes towards people suffering from clinical depression.â I was interested in conducting this study because even though depression is common (Blazer, 2005; WHO, 2001; Ministry of Health, 2011) people still tend to discriminate against sufferers (Byrne, 1997; Goffman, 1963; Parle, 2012). A quantitative research method was opted for, in which data was collected through a standardized test, namely Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI - Taylor & Dear, 1981). One hundred and forty participants were selected by using snowball sampling. Results shows that age, level of education, and occupation play an important role in the formation of attitudes. In fact, people over 50 years held more negative attitudes than younger adults, and as level of education increases, positive attitudes are more common.