Exploring African community attitudes towards mental illness in Australia: a cross-sectional study

Background: Mental illness is often stigmatized across various cultural groups, yet there is limited understanding of African communities’ perceptions and beliefs regarding mental health. One reason for this disparity could be the lack of culturally appropriate tools to assess attitudes towards mental illness in African populations. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 40-item Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale within African communities in Australia. Design: This study employed a quantitative, cross-sectional, and descriptive approach, using a self-administered survey to assess the psychometric properties of the CAMI scale among African Australian individuals. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency. Method: A convenience sample of 110 individuals from various African community organizations in Australia was recruited. The original English version of the CAMI scale was used to assess attitudes towards mental illness. Results: Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.717, indicating acceptable consistency. The Authoritarianism sub-scale had a lower reliability of 0.424, which is below the acceptable threshold of 0.70. The other sub-scales had a better internal consistency, with 0.730 for Benevolence, 0.724 for Ideology, and 0.627 for Social Restrictiveness, though the latter still lacked the ideal 0.70. Conclusions: The CAMI scale has been demonstrated to be a reliable and culturally appropriate tool for assessing African communities’ attitudes towards mental illness in Australia. By identifying negative attitudes, this tool can be used to inform health education and awareness programs that address misconceptions about mental illness. Such programs could encourage early health-seeking behaviors among migrants, facilitating early identification and intervention, and ultimately improving health outcomes by reducing the burden of mental illness. This study is significant as it provides a culturally appropriate tool to assess mental health attitudes in African communities, informing the development of appropriate strategies to promote early help-seeking behaviors and reduce stigma, thus improving mental health outcomes.