Table 2.

Health professionals' opinions on the benevolence construct of the CAMI instrument

Items on Benevolence (BE)	Strongly agree/agree (%)	Neutral (%)	Strongly disagree/ disagree (%)	Mean	SD
1. The mentally ill have for too long been the subject of ridicule (strongly	229 (76.6)	34 (11.4)	46 (12.0)	2.15	1.01
disagree/disagree)
2. More tax money should be spent on the care and treatment of the mentally ill	227 (75.2)	52 (17.2)	23 (7.6)	2.04	0.94
(strongly disagree/disagree)
3. We need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude towards the mentally ill in our	292 (96.4)	7 (2.3)	4 (1.3)	1.63	0.93
society (strongly disagree/disagree)
4. Our mental hospitals seem more like prisons than like places where the	126 (41.7)	49 (16.2)	127 (42.0)	3.00	1.27
mentally ill can be cared for (strongly disagree/disagree)
5. We have a responsibility to provide the best possible care for the mentally ill	286 (95.0)	9 (3.0)	6 (2.0)	1.53	0.68
(strongly disagree/disagree)
6. The mentally ill don't deserve our sympathy (strongly agree/agree)	27 (9.0)	22 (7.3)	252 (83.7)	1.69	1.02
7. The mentally ill are a burden on society (strongly agree/agree)	81 (26.9)	37 (12.3)	183 (60.8)	2.41	1.34
8. Increased spending on mental health services is a waste of tax (strongly	13 (3.7)	10 (3.4)	277 (92.9)	1.56	0.81
agree/agree)
9. There are sufficient existing services for the mentally ill (strongly	45 (15.0)	48 (26.0)	207 (69.0)	2.25	1.05
agree/agree)
10. It is best to avoid anyone who has mental problems (strongly agree/agree)	27 (9.1)	30 (10.1)	139 (80.8)	1.95	1.03

Responses in parenthesis signify stigmatizing attitudes towards the mentally ill patient.

Items on the benevolence scale were adopted from Taylor and Dear (13).

Overall construct mean (SD) score = 2.02 ± 0.41; Higher mean scores signify higher stigmatizing attitudes towards the mentally ill.