Correctional Health Care Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Inmates

Abstract

Inmates often come from stigmatized social and cultural groups whose characteristics and behaviors may evoke negative responses from their caregivers. Yet nurses have a professional responsibility to provide care "not limited by personal attitudes or beliefs" according to the American Nurses Association Code for Nurses. The purposes of this study were to measure the attitudes of practicing correctional health care nurses toward their incarcerated patients and to identify variables that might influence such attitudes. The Attitudes Toward Prisoners Scale (ATPS) had been developed, validated, and administered to correctional officers, police officers, community members, and others, but nurses’ attitudes had never been measured. ATPS questionnaires were collected from 146 nurses practicing at 19 correctional facilities in five states. Demographic data were collected also to see if age, education, gender, or length of time working in corrections influenced nurses’ attitudes. Results revealed that the age of the respondents, and whether they practiced in a jail or a prison setting significantly influenced their attitudes. Overall attitude scores for correctional nurses were lower (more negative) than the scores of almost all other previously measured groups.