SPECIAL FEATURE - WINNER OF THE 1995 SERPN DOCTORAL STUDENT AWARD - PSYCHIATRIC-NURSES KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMERICANS-WITH-DISABILITIES-ACT

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides civil rights protec tion for qualified individuals with disabilities. In spite of the prot ection afforded, people with serious and persistent mental illness may require advocates to help them benefit from the ADA. This descriptive investigation used primary data from 900 psychiatric nurses to determ ine their knowledge of the ADA. Subjects were also asked to provide in formation about their clinical practice responsibilities, and how freq uently they have provided clients with ADA information. Results indica te that the majority of the psychiatric nurses in this study did not h ave the knowledge necessary to act as advocates with respect to the AD A. Moreover, few psychiatric nurses in the study had provided clients with ADA information. Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company