Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill in a Sample of Professionals Working in a Psychiatric Hospital in Beijing (China)

The attitudes of psychiatric doctors and nurses toward the mentally ill in a large urban psychiatric hospital in China were compared using the Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI). Data indicated that the attitude of professionals differed on 11 of the 40 questions of this instrument. Those questions are divided along 4 dimensions: authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness and rehabilitation in the community. Results showed that psychiatric doctors have a more liberal and positive attitude toward the mentally ill than psychiatric nurses, especially about their rehabilitation in the community. Factor analysis also indicated that nurses were more likely than doctors to attribute negative characteristics to the mentally ill. Some explanations are proposed to explain these differences.