Attitudes Towards Personality Disorders: Comparison Between Prison Officers and Psychiatric Nurses

• NCJ Number: 207570
• Journal: Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2004 Pages: 265-277
• Author(s): Paola Carr-Walker; Len Bowers; Patrick Callaghan; Henk Nijman; Jo Paton
• Date Published: September 2004
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study compared the attitudes of prison officers with those of psychiatric nurses toward dangerous and severely personality disordered (DSPD) prisoners and patients.

Abstract

The population of DSPD individuals in prisons and in high-security psychiatric hospitals is high and previous research has suggested that the attitudes of psychiatric nurses toward DSPD patients are largely negative. The current research expands on previous studies concerning staff attitudes in English high-security psychiatric hospitals by comparing the attitudes of nurses in these hospitals to the attitudes of prison officers who work with DSPD prisoners. Participants were 651 nurses in high-security hospitals who completed the Attitude to Personality Disorder Questionnaire (APDQ), 121 nurses who completed the Staff Attitude to Personality Disorder Interview (SAPDI), and 54 prison officers who completed both measures. Results of analysis of variance indicated that prison officers’ attitudes toward DSPD individuals were more positive than those of the nurses’ across the entire APDQ. Prison officers expressed less fear and anger, less helplessness, and generally expressed more liking for DSPD individuals. Prison officers were also more likely than nurses to express optimism about treatment. Psychiatric nurses, on the other hand, experienced feelings of vulnerability and revealed more concern about caring for and managing DSPD patients. Nurses expressed less confidence in dealing with DSPD patients than did prison officers. The differences in attitudes between nurses and officers are likely the result of experience with personality disorder, personal characteristics, and organizational culture. Future studies should examine the development of staff attitudes over time and the consequences for patient-staff interaction and patient treatment outcomes. Tables, references, appendixes