RESUMO
BACKGROUND: We wanted to investigate the treatment milieu in two psychogeriatric hospitals by use of the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS), a self-report questionnaire that has been used in studies of the treatment climate in several psychiatric wards. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 22 patients and 54 staff members in four psychogeriatric wards rated the WAS. The staff's perception of the working environment was also examined (the Working Environment Scale, WES-10). RESULTS: Both patients and staff had higher scores for "order and organization" and lower scores for "anger and aggressive behaviour" than mean scores of the Norwegian normative sample of wards (mainly for patients with psychosis). Three wards obtained higher patient scores for "support" and three obtained lower ones for "staff control". The psychogeriatric patients seemed to be more satisfied with the wards in general and with the staff, whereas the staff's satisfaction and evaluation of the working environment was similar to that of the Norwegian normative sample. INTERPRETATION: The common trend of the four wards, convincingly shows that the psychogeriatric ward atmosphere differs from that of the wards mainly for psychotic patients. The WAS seemed to be suitable to describe this environment.