Attitudes in the Provision of Public Sector Health and Mental Health Care

Abstract

The development of comprehensive health and mental health services depends on a number of factors. One overlooked factor, especially for the public sector, seems to be the attitudes of the health care providers. In an attempt to address this and related issues, the Houston Consortium was designed as a prototype training model. As part of that endeavor, the attitudes of mental health trainees toward the poor, interdisciplinary interaction, and community mental health were assessed. While the ethnic identity of the students had some influence, the major findings concerned the discipline of the students. Social work students, in particular, seemed to possess or be able to develop attitudes relevant to a prominent role in primary health care.