Gender differences in mental health literacy of family caregivers of persons with mental illness: an Indian perspective

Research on mental health literacy in India is limited despite increasing growing evidence of mental illness among general population. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate gender differences in mental health literacy of family caregivers of persons with mental illness. A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among 161 randomly selected caregivers of persons with mental illness at outpatient department of a tertiary care centre. Data were collected through face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. This study supports the previous research that gender differences exist in mental health literacy of persons with mental illness. Men were less literate than women regarding knowledge of people with mental illness as well women hold better positive attitudes towards persons with mental illness. Hence, gender differences need to be considered in developing mental health literacy programmes for family caregivers of mentally ill and general population.