Rejecting the patient: preliminary validation of a self-report scale

The authors describe an easily administered scale being developed to assess the rejecting feelings of family respondents toward former mental patients who return to live with their families. Based upon a sample of 133 discharged mental patients and family members, the scale demonstrates a moderately high reliability (alpha = .78) and test-retest correlation (r = .72). Data are presented for evaluating the construct validity of the scale.