Using the Ward Atmosphere Scale to Help Change the Treatment Environment

The Moos Ward Atmosphere Scale was administered on a 45-bed psychiatric unit in a Veterans Administration Hospital to assess how staff, patients, and observers viewed the ward and to clarify what goals staff had and what changes they wished to make. Comparisons of staffs ratings of the existing milieu and of what an ideal milieu should be showed they wished to improve the ward in the areas of patient involvement, support, spontaneity, order and organization, program clarity, and staff control; methods for making such changes became apparent. When the scale was administered again seven months later, respondents' ratings indicated that in general there had been substantial positive changes in all six areas. The authors believe the Moos scale is an invaluable aid in making and measuring change in a ward environment.