| dc.description.abstract | The assessment of psychiatric attitudes has been inconsistent over the
years despite considerable evidence of the important role which they play
in the efficacy of intervention with psychiatric illness. The development
of an assessment tool which was both modern in theory and terminology was
undertaken with the focus being on item construction and reliability. Three
theoretical dimensions (Restrictive Control; Protective Benevolence;
Humanistic) were consistently identified within the research literature,
and items were written for these dimensions concerning five content areas
(hospitals, treatment, professional staff, patients and illness). The final
vetted battery was administered to 210 individuals, with factor analyses
and reliability statistics calculated. After careful consideration of the
limits of the present study, forty items were tentatively forwarded for
further investigation in the development of a psychiatric attitudes
assessment device. | |
