Effect of educational intervention on attitudes toward the concept of criminal responsibility

Table 1 Pre-seminar questionnaire

Section	Question	Answer options
Knowledge about forensic mental health	Have you heard the term “Forensic psychiatry?”	Yes or No
	Do you know the content of the MHW Act?	Well known, a little, or No
	Have you heard the concept of criminal responsibility?	Yes or No
	Did you know about the introduction of the MTS Act?	Yes or No
	Did you know about the introduction of the Lay Judge Act?	Yes or No
Opinion about forensic mental health	Opinion toward OIH	Definitely agree, relatively agree, neutral, relatively disagree, or definitely disagree
	Opinion toward the concept of criminal responsibility	Definitely agree, relatively agree, neutral, relatively disagree, or definitely disagree
	Opinion toward the MTS Act	Definitely agree, relatively agree, neutral, relatively disagree, or definitely disagree
	Opinion toward the Lay Judge Act	Definitely agree, relatively agree, neutral, relatively disagree, or definitely disagree
About the relationship between psychiatry and the mass media	Opportunity to see media reports regarding psychiatry	Many, relatively many, neutral, relatively few, or few
	Opinion toward the optimal frequency of media reports regarding psychiatry	More than now, neutral, or less than now
	Opportunity to see media reports about the relationship between psychiatry and crimes	Increased, no change, or decreased
	Opinion toward the optimal frequency of media reports regarding the relationship between psychiatry and crimes	More than now, neutral, or less than now
About the responder	Should the media maintain anonymity in reporting crime cases with mental disorders?	Definitely agree, relatively agree, neutral, relatively disagree, or definitely disagree
	Age	< 20, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, or > 79
	Sex	Male or female
	Occupation	Medical practitioner, medical student, or other

MHW Act: Mental Health and Welfare Act; MTS Act: Medical Treatment and Supervision Act; OIH: Official Involuntary Hospitalization.

Table 2 Pre-seminar opinions of respondents regarding forensic mental health issues

Question	Answer	Number
Have you heard the term “Forensic psychiatry?”	Yes	39 (50%)
	No	39 (50%)
Do you know the content of the MHW Act?	Know in detail	11 (14%)
	A little	19 (24%)
	No	48 (62%)
Have you heard the concept of criminal responsibility?	Yes	74 (95%)
	No	4 (5%)
Did you know about the introduction of the MTS act?	Yes	25 (32%)
	No	53 (68%)
Did you know about the introduction of the Lay Judge Act?	Yes	63 (81%)
	No	15 (19%)
Opinion toward OIH	Definitely agree	37 (47%)
	Relatively agree	24 (31%)
	Neutral	12 (15%)
	Relatively disagree	0
	Definitely disagree	1 (1%)
	No answer	4 (5%)
Opinion toward the concept of criminal responsibility	Definitely agree	6 (8%)
	Relatively agree	7 (9%)
	Neutral	19 (24%)
	Relatively disagree	23 (29%)
	Definitely disagree	14 (18%)
	No answer	9 (12%)
Opinion toward the MTS Act	Definitely agree	35 (45%)
	Relatively agree	23 (29%)
	Neutral	12 (15%)
	Relatively disagree	3 (4%)
	Definitely disagree	2 (3%)
	No answer	3 (4%)
Opinion toward the Lay Judge Act	Definitely agree	12 (15%)
	Relatively agree	22 (28%)
	Neutral	24 (31%)
	Relatively disagree	9 (12%)
	Definitely disagree	8 (10%)
	No answer	11 (14%)
Opportunity to see media reports regarding psychiatry	Many	8 (10%)
	Relatively many	19 (24%)
	Neutral	11 (14%)
	Relatively few	18 (23%)
	Few	22 (28%)
Opinion toward the optimal frequency of media reports regarding psychiatry	More than now	59 (76%)
	Neutral	17 (22%)
	Less than now	1 (1%)
	No answer	1 (1%)
Opportunity to see media reports about the relationship between psychiatry and crimes	Increased	43 (55%)
	No change	32 (41%)
	Decreased	3 (4%)
Opinion toward the optimal frequency of media reports regarding the relationship between psychiatry and crimes	More than now	45 (58%)
	Neutral	30 (38%)
	Less than now	2 (3%)
	No answer	1 (1%)
Should the media maintain anonymity in reporting crime cases with mental disorders?	Definitely agree	11 (14%)
	Relatively agree	17 (22%)
	Neutral	27 (35%)
	Relatively disagree	13 (17%)
	Definitely disagree	10 (13%)

MHW Act: Mental Health and Welfare Act; MTS Act: Medical Treatment and Supervision Act; OIH: Official Involuntary Hospitalization.

Table 3 Changes in opinions on psychiatry: Pre- and post-seminar

Question	Answer	Pre	Post	Stat1
Opinion toward OIH (n = 66)	Agree	332	382	Z = -2.017
	Relatively agree	212	23	P = 0.044
	Neutral	11	4
	Relatively disagree	0	1
	Disagree	1	0
Opinion toward the concept of criminal responsibility (n = 60)	Agree	5	9	Z = -3.797
	Relatively agree	6	13	P < 0.001
	Neutral	18	182
	Relatively disagree	192	13
	Disagree	12	7
Opinion toward the MTS Act (n = 66)	Agree	32	29	Z = -0.498
	Relatively agree	192	262	P = 0.619
	Neutral	10	7
	Relatively disagree	3	3
	Disagree	2	1
Opinion toward the Lay Judge Act (n = 66)	Agree	9	15	Z = -2.463
	Relatively agree	19	182	P = 0.014
	Neutral	222	212
	Relatively disagree	9	5
	Disagree	7	7
Should the media report more frequently on psychiatry? (n = 69)	Agree	542	492	Z = 1.291
	Neutral	14	19	P = 0.197
	Disagree	1	1
Should media report more frequently on the relationship between psychiatry and crimes? (n = 69)	Agree	412	512	Z = -3.051
	Neutral	26	17	P = 0.02
	Disagree	2	1
Should the media maintain anonymity in reporting crime cases with mental disorders? (n = 68)	Agree	9	11	Z = -2.185
	Relatively agree	15	17	P = 0.029
	Neutral	222	252
	Relatively disagree	12	7
	Disagree	10	8

¹Two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test;

²The median for each item is indicated by underscoring. MHW Act: Mental Health and Welfare Act; MTS Act: Medical Treatment and Supervision Act; OIH: Official Involuntary Hospitalization.