The development of a community mental health ideology scale.

As psychiatric facilities move toward a community mental health orientation, it appears vital to understand and measure this new ideological perspective. A valid and reliable 38-item Scale has been developed for this purpose. The Community Mental Health Ideology Scale very effectively discriminates between groups known to be highly oriented to this ideology and random samples of mental health professionals. Other evidence of the Scale's construct validity is presented, and certain correlates of community mental health ideology are described. Further data on the validity of the Scale is required, and additional areas for future research are indicated.