Psychiatric nurses' attitudes toward sexuality, sexual assault/rape, and incest

This descriptive, exploratory study examined psychiatric nurses' attitudes towards sexuality, sexual assault/rape, and incest, and explored the relationships between these attitudes and the personal characteristics of the nurse. Contrary to previous research on nurses in nonpsychiatric settings, the nurses in this Canadian study had favorable attitudes towards sexuality and did not subscribe to attitudes of victim blaming in sexual assault/rape and incest. The strongest predictor of attitudes was age of the nurse (p < .02); cultural/ethnic background may also be associated with attitudes (p < .02). The results indicate a need to develop more precise measures of attitude for psychiatric nurses.