Evolving perceptions of treatment helpfulness across mental illnesses in Singapore: 8-year comparison using nationally representative samples.

BACKGROUND

Singapore conducted its second nationwide mental health literacy survey in 2023, following the first survey in 2015.

AIMS: This study aimed to ascertain the population's beliefs about the helpfulness of treatments for mental illnesses in Singapore, and assessed changes over an 8-year period.

METHOD: A nationally representative cohort (n = 4195, aged 18-67 years) was interviewed between September 2022 and February 2024, which replicated the methods of the 2015 survey (n = 3006, aged 18-65 years). Using a vignette-based approach, 3002 respondents rated the perceived helpfulness of 28 treatment options for alcohol abuse, dementia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia as either 'helpful' or 'harmful'. Weighted prevalence, stratified by vignettes and logistic regressions, were performed.

RESULTS

Counselling was most frequently rated as being helpful for alcohol use disorder (94.0%) and depression (95.2%), while seeing a psychiatrist was most frequently rated helpful for schizophrenia (93.0%), dementia (85.1%) and OCD (91.6%). Across all vignettes, informal help sources, including family (80.8%) and friends (74.7%), were considered less helpful than mental health professionals, except for 'counselling over the phone' (58.8%) and 'seeing a general practitioner' (69.8%). Participants in 2023 were significantly more likely to endorse psychologists, counsellors and phone counselling as being helpful than in 2015. Face-to-face help was considered more helpful than over-the-phone professional help, highlighting the continued need for a personal touch in mental health services.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, there has been an improvement in the perception of the helpfulness of mental health professionals, but targeted interventions to improve the perception of mental health services by general practitioners and institutions are essential.