Drug addicts as perceived by hospital staff.

Abstract

Hospital staff's attitudes to drug addiction and their perceptions of the characteristics of drug addicts were investigated by means of a questionnaire containing a set of 19 attitude statements and 23 semantic differential scales on which they rated four types of patient: ‘the hard‐drug addict’, ‘the alcoholic’, ‘the mentally ill patient’ and the ‘soft‐drug addict’. Factor analysis of the responses showed, first, that attitudes to drug addiction could be described in terms of five basic dimensions, and secondly, that patients were perceived in terms of four dimensions: Assertiveness, Dangerousness, Non‐conformity and Attractiveness. In addition there were two more general perceptual dimensions: Extraversion and Psychopathy. From the informants' positions on these different dimensions it was concluded that although most hospital staff do not condone the misuse of drugs they are against victimizing drug addicts, feeling that they are ill people who deserve treatment. Both hard‐ and soft‐drug addicts are regarded as unconventional. Hard‐drug addicts are seen as dangerous and sexually unattractive, whereas soft‐drug addicts are seen as harmless, sexually attractive and assertive. Although doctors and nurses agree about most of these characteristics, the nurses see the hard‐drug addict as assertive but the doctors see him as timid. In more general personality terms, although the soft‐drug addict is seen by most staff as extraverted and lacking in psychopathy and the hard‐drug addict as psychopathic, nurses also regard the latter as extraverted whereas doctors regard him as introverted. Conclusions are drawn about the implications of these findings for hospital policy. Hypotheses are also suggested about the personality of different types of drug‐taker.