Attitudes toward patients among different mental health professional groups

Implicit theories of the characteristics and causes of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder held by parents and professionals in the psychological, educational, medical and allied health fields

“…The study of implicit theories has been used to understand how the general population understands behaviours and conditions such as juvenile delinquency (Tyson & Hubert, 2000), alcoholism (Furnham & Hume-Wright, 1992), depression (Furnham & Kuyken, 1991) and schizophrenia (Furnham & Bower, 1992). Furthermore studies have indicated (a) that professionals can hold implicit theories and (b) that in relation to the same condition, these can differ among different professional groups (Kuyken, Brewin, Power, & Furnham, 1992;Roskin, Carsen, Rabiner, & Marell, 1988).…”

“…Furthermore, there has been no systematic examination of the implicit theories of professionals who may have to deal with children who exhibit symptoms that are associated with ADHD. Given that different professional groups have different implicit theories of psychiatric illness (Kuyken et al, 1992;Roskin et al, 1988), it is likely that there could be similar differences between the implicit theories of relevant professional groups in relation to ADHD. Understanding what these different groups consider the central characteristics of ADHD to be, as well as its causal factors, is important, especially given that the diagnosis of ADHD is often made on the basis of observations alone.…”

Social Workers' Attitudes about Psychotropic Drug Treatment with Youths

“…More recent literature, however, has suggested that many social workers subscribe, at least to some extent, to the medical model and support as well as facilitate the use of drug treatment for adults with mental illness. Several studies ofsocial workers' attitudes toward psychopharmacologic treatment suggest that they are more positive about drug treatment than other mental health professionals (Bentley et aI., 1991;Raskin, Carsen, Rabiner, & Marell, 1988), although they seem to view it as one part of a more inclusive intervention plan. Bentley and associates' (2004) study found that the vast majority of social workers did not perceive "clashing perspectives of colleagues or personal reservations about medication" as important barriers to practice (Bentley et aI., 2004, p. 10).…”

Development of the Biases toward Children with Psychological and Behavioral Disorders Scale

“…Creech and Prewett (1976 ) replicated the essential conclusions of the earlier studies: psychologists and other mental health workers were the least authoritarian and most likely to espouse a mental hygiene ideology, psychologists and social workers were the least socially restrictive, and psychologists and psychiatrists were the strongest proponents of an interpersonal etiology for mental illness. Roskin, Carsen, Rabiner, and Marell (1988 ) reported similar but not identical fi ndings to Cohen and Struening (1962, 1963, 1965, perhaps because they administered a diff erent measure, the Attitudes Toward Patients questionnaire, conceptually similar to the Opinions about Mental Illness scales. The seven factors on this scale are: psychodynamic etiology of psychiatric disorders; psychodynamic etiology of organic illness; biological etiology of psychiatric disorders; moral weakness etiology of psychiatric disorders; authoritarian-controlling attitude; nurturant-empathic attitudes; and distancing-detachment from patients.…”

“…The diff erences in attitudes toward adult psychiatric patients between two professional groups that may also be represented on committees for special education-psychologists and social workers-have been inconsistent. Thus, some studies indicated that psychologists had a more positive attitude ( Roskin, et al, 1988 ;Peris, et al, 2008 ) or desired less social distance ( Smith & Cashwell, 2011 ), while other research showed that social workers were more favorably inclined toward patients with mental illness ( Rabkin, 1972 ;Yuker, 1986 ).…”