Abstract

The shortage of healthcare providers in psychiatry both in mental health nursing and psychiatrist is evident globally. Multiple factors lead to making the decision to work in a psychiatric setup. The perception of nursing students and other health care providers play an essential role. This study was aimed to identify the perception of nursing students regarding mental health, mental illness and mental health nursing. A crosssectional study was conducted with 73 nursing students enrolled in BSN 3rd year. Participants completed a questionnaire of demographic and clinical characteristics on mental health, illness and mental health nursing. Purposive sampling was used and data analysis was done through SPSS version 23. A total of 13.7% male students and 86.3% female students with a mean age of 19 years participated in this study. 76.5% participants belonged to rural and 23.2% to urban population. 90.4% of nursing students reported a positive contribution in providing services to individuals suffering from mental problems. However, only 43.9% responded that they are neutral to apply in mental health nursing. On the other hand, 52% of students showed high anxiety dealing with mentally ill patients in contrast to 50.6% participants who reported they are self-confident at work with mentally ill individuals. On stigmatization, 71% of participants responded that mentally ill patients are unpredictable. This study highlights the knowledge and skills of nursing students in mental health, mental illness and mental health nursing and may serve to encourage nursing students to pursue a career in mental health nursing.