Last update:
06-Jul-2016

OBJECTIVE To develop a tool for measuring the attitudes and beliefs of mentally ill patients regarding their smoking habits.

METHOD The research tools selected for this study were: (a) Smoking in psychiatric hospitals, constructed by Dickens and colleagues, which records the smoking routine of mentally ill patients, (b) the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) which detects mental disorders, and (c) the Global Assessment Schedule (GAS) which records the functionality of mentally ill patients coupled with their psychopathology. A pilot study was conducted with 100 mentally ill patients, and the necessary weighting was performed.

RESULTS The Dickens et al questionnaire is not a psychometric tool, but a set of exploratory questions to assess the attitudes and beliefs of the mentally ill, and is therefore not subject to weighting or psychometric testing procedures. The GHQ scale and GAS are tools that have been weighted. Factorial correspondence analysis helps researchers to look into the way the patients group various subjects based on their own answers.

CONCLUSIONS This pilot study with the weighting of the questionnaires, created a valid and reliable tool that can be used to explore the attitudes and beliefs of mentally ill patients regarding their smoking habits.

Key words: Functionality, Mental disease, Mentally ill, Smoking.