Nursing staff decisions: the relationship of authoritarian, benevolent, and mental health ideology attitudes to the disposition of mentally disordered sex offenders

Atascadero State Hospital in Atascadero, California, is a maximum security institution with a population of approximately 1,330 patients. These patients are court committed and a large percentage fall into two categories; namely, the mentally disordered sex offender (MBSO) and the criminally insane. The mentally disordered sex offender constituted the sampling used in this study. Atascadero State Hospital is the only hospital in the state that receives the mentally disordered sex offender for treatment. These men, by and large, toll into a special classification of mental illness, one having many negative social implications. The men's eventual return to society is dependent upon their acceptance and response to the treatment program outlined by the treatment team, and it is the responsibility of the psychiatric technician to see that this treatment program is carried out.