PATIENT ATTITUDES TOWARD MENTAL HOSPITALIZATION - REVIEW OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Much of the data available in the literature dealing with mental hospitalization from the patient's point of view stem from qualitative research. On the basis of observation, informal interviews, or masquerading as patients, social scientists have described the mental hospital and patients' attitudes toward it largely in unfavorable terms. Relatively few scientists have taken representative samples of patients, questioned them formally about the hospital via objective tests or validated scales, and displayed the findings in statistical format. The present report is a review of this body of quantitative research, with special consideration given to ascertaining patients' degree of favorableness to hospitalization. Results indicate than in 30 of the 38 different samples tested, or 78.9%, patients espoused favorable attitudes. Patients proved to be somewhat more favorable in their attitude toward mental hospitals in general than their own institution, and patients in university hospitals tended to express more positive views than those in either state or veteran's hospitals. A content analysis of the attitude measures reveals that a hospital's treatment, restrictions, organization, and amenities were rated more favorably by patients than its staff and other patients. Limited data suggest that patients' opinions of their own institution, but not of hospitals generally, change for the better between admission and discharge. Studies that compared patient and staff attitudes have inconsistent findings. Social variables had a negligible effect on the favorableness of patients' responses, but the impact of psychiatric variables was considerable. Interpretation of these results, particularly in regard to the discrepancy between qualitative and quantitatie data, are offered.