Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to study attitudes and attitude changes of patients toward the nurses who cared for them during pre-and post-hospitalization in Ramathibodi Hospital. The subjects were ninety-six inpatients; forty-eight males and forty-eight females with an equal number living in Bangkok and the rural provinces. The rating scale was constructed by the researcher following Likerts attitude scale. Each subject rated their nurses twice, once on the first day of admission and again on the day of discharge from the hospital. The data were analyzed by Arithmetic Mean and Three-Way Analysis of Variance with sex, domiciles and rating situations as independent variables. The major findings were :- 1.The patients had favorable attitudes toward nurses both pre- and post-hospitalization. 2. After hospitalization the patients attitudes toward nurses did not change. However, in consideration of sex and domicile, it showed that. Male and female patients showed a significant difference (p <.01) in attitude changes toward nurses. The male patients attitudes changed for the better while the female patients attitudes changed for the worse. There was a significant difference (p <.01) in attitude changes toward nurses between the patients living in Bangkok and those living in rural provinces. The attitudes of the patients living in Bangkok changed for the better, while the attitudes of the patients living in rural provinces changed for the worse.