Family and Staff Attitudes Toward Family Involvement in the Treatment of Hospitalized Chronic Patients

Attitudes of staff members and families toward family involvement in treatment of hospitalized chronic mental patients were explored using a 17-item questionnaire. Family members of 23 patients at a rural health center completed the questionnaire, which focused on attitudes toward and knowledge of important variables in the treatment of their relative. Five clinical staff members responded to four of the items, and statistical correlations between family and staff responses were computed for those items. The results indicated that two-thirds of the family members showed knowledge, concern, and willingness to be involved in patient treatment, but a lack of agreement between staff members and between staff and families on crucial treatment variables was considered to jeopardize family involvement. The author recommends that internal staff disagreements first be identified and resolved and that measures then be taken to encourage staff to involve the family in the patient's treatment.