Community attitudes to mental health: A comparative study

Three propositions about attitudes to mental illness derived from Nunnally [36] were examined with the semantic differential technique in the manner of Olmsted and Ordway [37] and Olmsted and Durham [38]. The examination was conducted in a population of 215 New Zealand University students. The outcome, in the same direction as some earlier studies, gave no confidence to those who considered that the community was ready, willing and able to play a major role in the care, treatment and rehabilitation of the mentally ill. As a consequence, it was considered that some prevailing social attitudes will need to be changed before professional care is transferred to the community.