THE TAPS PROJECT .9. THE RELIABILITY OF THE PATIENT ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE

The development of the hospital and community versions of the Patient Attitude Questionnaire is described. The instrument rates the attitude s of psychiatric patients towards their treatment settings and staff, and is framed specifically to assess attitudinal change during the tra nsfer of patients from hospital. For the items rated using the kappa c oefficient of agreement, the mean test-retest reliability value was 0. 51, and the average inter-rater value was 0.82. This study shows that long-term psychiatric patients are able to give clear and consistent v iews about their living arrangements - views that should be sought and respected by staff.