Assessing Community Attitudes Toward Mental Illness

Staff of a Veterans Administration hospital combined recruitment of family-care sponsors with an assessment of community attitudes toward mental illness. They mailed questionnaires to 989 persons in a small community 35 miles from the hospital. Most of the 235 respondents believed that mental illness is caused by a lack either of physical health or of proper nurturing, rather than seeing it as punishment for sins. Respondents were generally optimistic about the chances of recovery. Respondents with no children at home were more receptive to the idea of accepting a family-care patient, while those with children at home were highly ambivalent. From the responses, the staff were able to locate several family-care sponsors.