Scaling community attitudes toward the mentally ill.

The measurement of public attitudes toward the mentally ill has taken on new significance since the introduction of community-based mental health care. Previous attitude scales have been constructed and applied primarily in a professional context. This article discusses the development and application of a new set of four scales explicitly designed to measure community attitudes toward the mentally ill. The scales represent dimensions included in previous instruments, specifically, authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology, but are expressed in terms of an almost completely new set of items that emphasize community contact with the mentally ill and mental health facilities. Data from a study of community attitudes about neighborhood mental health facilities in Toronto are used to test the internal and external validity of the scales. Results of the analysis provide strong support for the validity of the scales and demonstrate their usefulness as explanatory and predictive variables for studying community response to mental health facilities.

Self-care agency in persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Using a framework based on Orem's self-care deficit theory, five hypotheses related to conditioning factors in self-care agency were tested. The study sample consisted of 60 outpatients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in a large research hospital. Patients completed the Exercise of Self-Care Agency instrument and the Health Assessment Questionnaire; a physician rated their arthritis severity. Twenty percent of subjects had high scores on self-care agency, 63% had average scores, and 16% had low scores. The conditioning factor of age was not related to self-care agency. However, education and the duration of illness were related to self-care agency in this group of persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Independent study as a learning experience in baccalaureate nursing programs: perceptions and practices.

While nursing education recognizes the need for independent study in baccalaureate nursing education, the literature suggests that nursing educators hold diverse views on the meaning, purpose, and conduct of independent study. This study reports the findings of a survey of nursing faculty designed to learn more about the perceptions and practices of independent study in baccalaureate nursing education. A mailed questionnaire was used to gather information from a random sample of nursing faculty at 40 baccalaureate nursing programs in the South. Fifty-one percent of the 441 faculty members responded. Of the 219 respondents, 95% reported independent study in their schools; however, wide variation in practices and faculty perceptions was evident. Limitations in curriculum design, available resources and time were influential factors in provision of opportunities for independent study. The lack of consensus suggests that faculty examine independent study options so that efforts may be better coordinated.

An examination of the self-care needs of clients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Investigators used Orem's self-care deficit theory to guide their examination of the needs of clients with rheumatoid arthritis. Several research questions, which were guided by the proposition that universal self-care requisites are influenced by a person's age, gender, and health state, were addressed. Interviews with 59 clients with rheumatoid arthritis were tape recorded, and transcripts of the interviews were analyzed by two experts using assigned codes of universal self-care requisites (USCRs). The most frequently reported USCRs for these clients with rheumatoid arthritis were the maintenance of a balance between activity and rest (83%), the promotion of normalcy (66%), and prevention of hazards (58%). Clients' health state and age, but not their gender, affected USCRs. The clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are described in light of clients' rehabilitation.