ABSTRACT
The mechanisms behind positive attitudes have now been thoroughly described. Staff who enjoyed working with PD patients and felt secure, accepting, purposeful and enthusiastic, tended to hold different beliefs about PD and its treatment and have different moral commitments, interpersonal skills, ways of managing their own emotions, etc., than those nurses who found the tasks more demanding. Moreover, the hospital culture within which they worked had a strong impact, either to enable or hinder that positive attitude among staff. Those organizations that provided training and clinical supervision, and which overcame the exacerbation of conflict produced by PD patients between hierarchical and disciplinary divisions, provided a cultural environment within which positive attitudes could flourish.
