KNOWLEDGE & ATTITUDES TOWARD ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT) AMONG A SAMPLE OF HEALTH FIELD STUDENT AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC IN SAUDI ARABIA AT "QASSIM"

Background :Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) it is one of many methods used for treatment in hospital and ECT more we find them in the psychiatric clinic. However, the Electroconvulsive therapy has been demonstrated effective and safe treatment for a psychiatric disorder like depression, schizophrenia, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, it has electrical polar which pass electrical through the brain when the patient under general anesthesia. There are many stigmas is attached to the use of ECT, which undermines the acceptance of this treatment by the general public. In contrast to the negative view about ECT among the general public, studies, which have evaluated the knowledge and attitude of mentally ill patients who have received ECT and their relatives, suggest that they are mostly satisfied with the experience of ECT. However, this is the first study focusing on awareness about ECT since there are no data on Qassim region about attitude or awareness of general public toward ECT. Objective: to explore the state of knowledge & attitudes toward electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) among a sample of health field and the general public in Saudi Arabia at "Qassim". Methods:By use the Cross- sectional study … Extensive electronic was administered to health field student and the general public in Saudi Arabia at "Qassim" (n=200) to investigate the source of ideas about ECT, the extent of knowledge and attitude toward ECT. Result:It is good to know that most of the health field student are well informed about ECT the score was about 64% compared to the general public about 36% , the most age have the knowledge score is the age between 31-40 .however the source of knowledge more from the internet 34% in compare to other sources . The health field student and the general public have a good attitude towards ECT (is an inhuman treatment) 61% of the sample disagreed with this statement. The health field student and the general public attitude towards ECT (is a painful treatment) 73.5% of the sample agreed with this statement. While attitude towards ECT (is that Need anesthesia) from the health field student and the general public 57.5% of the sample disagreed with this statement. In the view of the most cases improved by treatment. From the sample for the safety of ECT during pregnancy, show the health field student (29%) and the general public (14%) agreed to it implying that majority of the people did not consider ECT safe in pregnancy.