CHARACTERISTICS AND SCREENING OF UNSATISFACTORY PSYCHIATRIC ATTENDANTS AND ATTENDANT-APPLICANTS

Abstract

1. A Personal Inventory Test was given to 108 psychiatric aides and biosocial histories were obtained at the time of their employment. The test was not used at that time as a screening device, but 2 years later the fate of the 108 men was reviewed and the efficacy of the test as a test screening device showed that, if it had been used for screening, 83% of the Unsatisfactory group would have been "picked up," whereas only 23% of the best men would have been caught by the screening. 2. The use of the test as an aid to personnel interviewers is emphasized, and the fact is stressed that it should not be "an absolute device." 3. The Satisfactory aide tends to be single, under 30, from a small town, parents never having been divorced or separated, mother not having worked outside the home. He feels that his health is good. If married, he has not been divorced or separated. He took the job primarily "for experience" or for economic reasons. Previous hospital experience in an N.P. Hospital stands him in good stead. In contrast, the Unsatisfactory attendant is more likely to be married, and if so, more likely to have been divorced or separated. It is also more probable that his parents were divorced or separated and they tend to be "somewhat disappointed in him." He may consider his health "average" rather than "good," and he gives as his reason for taking the job "security" rather than "experience."

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