Nurses' expectations for accomplishment of mentally retarded patients

As part of a larger study into the pattern of care delivered to hospitalized mentally retarded adults, an attitude survey was undertaken. Factor analysis on questionnaires returned by 696 nurses yielded a three factor solution. One factor, concerned with the expectations that nurses hold of the potential level of patient accomplishment, was examined. Different grades of staff were found to hold significantly different views on a scale ranging from "optimist" to "pessimist". Results from 30 hospitals showed that, after correcting for this grade effect, there were substantial institutional differences.