ATTITUDES OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSING PERSONNEL TOWARDS PATIENTS WHO HAVE ATTEMPTED-SUICIDE

The aim of this study was to examine the attitudes towards suicidal pa tients of a group of psychiatric nursing personnel (n=197) and to esta blish a baseline of attitudinal measures against which the effects of a subsequent educational programme can be assessed. A scale, known as the Understanding of Suicide Attempt Patient Scale (USP Scale) was dev eloped for this purpose. The reliability of the scale was satisfactory , and its correlation with visual analogue scale (VAS) scores based on clinical vignettes suggests that it has validity. Women tended to be more sympathetic than men, and older personnel were more favourably di sposed than the younger nurses. Differences between personnel working in different settings were found, which might be explained by differen ces in the frequency of contact with suicide-prone patients, more freq uent exposure being associated with more positive attitudes.