SOCIAL CLIMATE DIFFERENCES IN A LARGE PSYCHIATRIC-HOSPITAL - STAFF AND CLIENT OBSERVATIONS

Most of the research on social climate in psychiatric hospital has add ressed differences in client/staff perceptions, while neglecting the d ifferences in social climate across types of wards. However, the liter ature on setting heterogeneity has also suggested that it might be imp ortant to examine differences between types of wards within a psychiat ric institution since different setting subclassifications have been i dentified in other settings (Luke, Rappaport, & Seidman, 1991). This r esearch is important to evaluate the treatment milieu and identify asp ects of the ward treatment that may require changes in order to functi on more effectively. Using the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) (Moos, 1989 ) we surveyed both clients (n = 130) and staff (n = 113) on three type s of wards, specialized, extended care, and acute care, within a large urban state psychiatric hospital. Although, clients perceived differe nces between extended care and acute units, staff did not. Staff howev er, reported differences between specialized and extended care wards o n all subscales except Anger and Aggression. These findings suggest th at perceptions of social climate within this psychiatric hospital are different for acute and extended care treatment settings, and that sta ff and clients perceive these settings differently. Although prior stu dies have documented that staff and clients differ on their perception s of the ward social climate, the present results highlight the need t o consider ward type in social climate studies. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.