A cross-cultural comparison of British and Chinese beliefs about the causes, behaviour manifestations and treatment of schizophrenia

This study is set to examine the British (in England) and Chinese (in China and Hong Kong) beliefs about the causes, behaviour manifestations and treatments of schizophrenia. It was hypothesised that first the Chinese would hold more religious and superstitious beliefs towards the causation and treatment of schizophrenia and would prefer the use of alternative medicine; second, the British would emphasise more on internal (biological and psychological) and external (sociological) beliefs for the causes and treatments. It was also predicted that the Chinese would possess more negative attitudes and beliefs about the behaviour manifestations of schizophrenia than the British. All three hypotheses were confirmed after factor analysing the internal structure of the questionnaire. The relevance between investigating beliefs of schizophrenia and treatment of psychiatric disorders for clinical practice is also highlighted.