Attitude towards mental illness among healthcare students – a cross-sectional survey

Background: Stigma toward mental illness remains a significant barrier to effective mental health care. Healthcare students, as future professionals, play a crucial role in shaping patient experiences, and their attitudes toward mental illness can influence help-seeking, treatment quality, and recovery outcomes. This study aims to assess attitudes toward mental illness among healthcare students and examine demographic and academic factors associated with stigmatizing attitudes. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 340 healthcare students from a tertiary institution in Tamil Nadu. Participants completed a socio-demographic proforma and the 16-item mental illness: clinicians’ attitudes scale – version 4 (MICA-4) questionnaire using an online platform. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to examine differences in attitudes across demographic and academic variables. Results: The mean total MICA-4 score was 61.91 ± 8.94, indicating a moderate level of stigma. A significant difference was observed in Domain 2 (knowledge) across courses of study (p = 0.002, 95% CI: 1.12–3.81). Domain 5 (care for patients with mental illness) differed significantly across years of study (p = 0.003, 95% CI: 1.26–1.78). Students from urban backgrounds scored higher than rural students in Domain 4 (p = 0.027, 95% CI: 1.08–1.68) and in total MICA-4 scores (p = 0.046, 95% CI: 1.18–3.88). Conclusion: Although overall stigma levels were moderate, variations across academic and background factors highlight the need for targeted mental health education and early stigma-reduction strategies within healthcare curricula.