Treatment Adherence, Help-Seeking Stigma, and Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Help in Fasting and Non-Fasting Psychiatric Patients During Ramadan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58600/eurjther3046Keywords:
help-seeking attitudes, psychiatric patients, ramadan fasting, stigma, treatment adherenceAbstract
Objective: This study aimed to examine and compare treatment adherence, self-stigma and perceived social stigma of seeking psychological help, perceived social support, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among fasting and non-fasting psychiatric outpatients during Ramadan.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 180 patients aged 18–78 years with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) diagnoses of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, attending a university psychiatry clinic in March 2025, were included. Participants were grouped as fasting (n = 92) or non-fasting (n = 88) by self-report. Sociodemographic data and validated scales for self- and social stigma, perceived social support, medication adherence (MMAS-8), and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help were administered. Appropriate univariate tests, Pearson and partial correlations, and hierarchical multiple linear regression (2-tailed, p < 0.05) were used.
Results: Fasting status was associated only with education level. Compared with non-fasting patients, fasting patients had significantly lower perceived social support (p = 0.001) and higher perceived social stigma (p = 0.017). Differences in help-seeking attitudes (p = 0.058) and treatment adherence (p = 0.059) were in the expected direction but did not reach statistical significance. Social stigma correlated negatively with adherence and positively with self-stigma, whereas social support correlated positively with help-seeking attitudes. In hierarchical regression, fasting status and higher perceived social support independently predicted more positive help-seeking attitudes (final model R² = 0.13).
Conclusion: Fasting psychiatric patients during Ramadan reported lower perceived social support and higher social stigma; although they tended toward more positive help-seeking attitudes and lower adherence, these differences were not statistically significant. These findings underscore the need for stigma-focused, support-enhancing, culturally sensitive interventions.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammet Sancaktar, Bahadır Demir, Gülçin Elboğa, Emine Yalçın, Yaren Babaoğlan, Feridun Bülbül, Abdurrahman Altındağ
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