Abstract
Introduction: For all individuals, mental, physical and social health is vital strands of life that are closely interwoven and deeply interdependent. As understanding of this relationship grows, it becomes ever more apparent that mental health is crucial to the overall wellbeing of individuals, societies and countries. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, mental health and mental disorders are not regarded with anything like the same importance as physical health. Instead, they have been: largely ignored or neglected.
Methods: The correlational comparative study was carried out among 75 adults aged 20-60 years each residing in the rural and urban community of Jhapa district in eastern region of Nepal (i.e.150 in total) by using pre-tested structured interview schedule. Data were analysed by using SPSS and MS Excel.
Results: The study concludes that the knowledge of the adults residing in the urban community regarding mental health and mental illness was higher than that of the adults residing in the rural community. The attitude of the adults residing in the urban community towards mental health and mental illness were more favourable as compared to the adults residing in rural community. There was a positive significant correlation between the knowledge attitude towards mental health and mental illness among adults in both the community.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that the information booklet and various mass media should be developed to enhance their knowledge and change their attitude towards mental health and mental illness. Similar study should be replicated on larger samples.

Key words: Knowledge, attitude, mental health and illness, adults, rural and urban community