Attitudes to clients with mental handicap

The increase in community care provision for people with a mental handicap makes an understanding of the attitudes and motivations of staff caring for them an urgent priority. Norma Raynes and colleagues describe a Department of Health-sponsored study which investigated the quality of care delivered in four key sectors of community residential care. Their findings reveal the positive attitudes of staff in all four settings and suggest that local authorities have a potential source of highly motivated recruits among those working in the health, voluntary and private sectors.