Measuring therapeutic attitudes in the prison environment: development of the Prison Attitude to Drugs scale.

Abstract

To develop and test the validity of a scale measuring therapeutic attitudes among prison staff working with drug misusers. A cross-sectional postal questionnaire study using 27 statements with a five-point Likert scale. Four prisons in the south-west of England A total of 252 prison staff (response rate 70%), including 67 for test-retest (response rate 57%). The study resulted in a three-dimensional, nine-item scale: the Prison Attitude to Drugs scale (PAD). The three subscales measure confidence in skills (four items), personal rewards (three items) and job satisfaction (two items). Test-retest correlations for the questions were above 0.7, with each factor having an internal coherence (coefficient alpha) of greater than 0.7. The PAD is a reliable tool that can be used in the prison environment.