Nurses' Attitudes Towards Alcoholics

The purpose of the researcher was to investigate attitudes of nurses toward alcoholics. The independent variables were: Level of nursing education achieved, type of nursing position held, formal alcoholism education, and alcoholism in the family. Dependent variables were psychological etiology, social rejection, physical genetic, humanitarian, moral weakness, and medical illness. Five composite null hypotheses were tested. Five main effects were found to be statistically significant at the .05 level. The results of the present study appear to support the following generalizations: 1. for the dependent variable social rejection, participants working in alcoholism treatment facilities had a more accepting attitude toward alcoholics, 2. for the dependent variable humanitarian, nurses who were Licensed Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses with baccalaureate degrees had a more humane attitude toward alcoholics, 3. for the dependent variable humanitarian, those nurses who received their nursing education during the interval 1975-1985 had a more humane attitude toward alcoholics, 4. for the dependent variable medical illness, college faculty were more likely to view alcoholism as a medical illness, and 5. For the dependent variable physical genetic, nurses who reported no alcoholism in their families had a stronger belief in the genetic predisposition toward alcoholism.