Attitudes of Mental Health Workers Toward Community Integration of the Persons with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness

Abstract

This study examined attitudes of mental health professionals toward community integration of the persons with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). The sample consisted of staff members from outpatient psychiatric clinics, agencies providing residential services for SPMI, and agencies advocating on behalf of the mentally ill. Each agency type included line workers, supervisors, and directors. A survey instrument for examining attitudes toward community integration of SPMI was developed. The study produced an important association between attitudes and agency types—mental health workers employed at outpatient psychiatric clinics were found to hold significantly more exclusionary attitudes toward SPMI than the workers at other agency types. The article provides evidence of an association between clinical knowledge and attitudes of mental health workers on community integration of SPMI.