Knowledge and Attitude towards ECT among Care Givers of Mentally Ill Clients and their Socio Demographic Correlates:A Cross Sectional Survey

ECT has been a treatment consideration for mental illness since decades. The provision of electric shock to human body seems to create significant misconceptions and stigma as well, which is evident in literature search. A cross sectional survey was conducted in the premises of a tertiary mental hospital among care givers of mentally ill clients; to assess the knowledge regarding electro convulsive therapy (ECT), attitude towards ECT and association of knowledge and attitude with selected socio demographic variables. Sample consisted of 120 care givers of mentally ill client's recruited using purposive sampling technique. An ethical clearance has been obtained from the Institutional Ethical committee; a formal informed consent was also obtained from the subjects after ensuring the confidentiality of the data collected. Three tools were used to collect data; a socio demographic proforma to obtain basic details of the subjects, a standardized tool with twenty items to assess the knowledge regarding Electroconvulsive therapy, a semi structured 4 point likert scale with eight statements prepared by the investigator to assess the attitude of subjects towards usage of Electro convulsive therapy. The data collection took nearly 45 days in the year 2014, subjects were given adequate time to complete the given tools. Data was entered into spread sheet and analysis was done using SPSS trial V.20.0. Results revealed that 55% subjects had average knowledge, 98 subjects had positive attitude towards ECT, there was significant association between education and level of knowledge (p=0.043) and attitude (p=0.0213) towards ECT. Hence the study finding shows the need for providing awareness regarding ECT.