| The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides civil rights protection for qualified individuals with disabilities, including the emotionally and mentally disabled. In spite of the protection afforded, it is unclear how much the severely and persistently mentally ill have benefitted from the ADA. Moreover, because of the nature of serious mental illness, it may be unreasonable to expect this population to independently access the benefits of the ADA.; The seriously mentally ill may require assistance from advocates to help them improve both their understanding and use of the ADA. Because of the amount of time spend in direct patient care, psychiatric nurses are one group who could potentially serve as advocates for the mentally ill with respect to the ADA. However, to be effective ADA advocates, psychiatric nurses must know about and understand the ADA. To date, there has been no research which documents what psychiatric nurses know about the ADA, and if they are using any ADA knowledge they have to assist clients.; This investigation used primary data from 900 psychiatric nurses to determine their knowledge of the ADA. More specifically, using chi-square and other nonparametric analyses, this study examined if knowledge of the ADA differed among psychiatric nurses based on work type, work setting, and clinical population served. In addition, this study explored what experience psychiatric nurses have had in assisting clients to obtain benefits under the ADA.; Results indicate that the majority of the psychiatric nurses in this study do not have the information necessary to act as advocates with respect to the ADA. Differences in ADA knowledge were found between nurses who work in clinical practice and those who do not work in clinical practice; as well as between nurses who work in either for profit, not for profit, or public settings. In addition, this study also showed that psychiatric nurses do not assist clients to obtain independent housing, supplemental security income, supported employment, or transportation. Moreover, there was no change in the frequency nurses provided assistance with social service needs based on their knowledge of the ADA. |
