Nurses described learned helplessness solely in terms of residents not performing the daily activities they were capable of. 2. The relatively strong correlation between the learned helplessness subscale of the MDI and the Beck Depression Inventory suggests that learned helplessness can be maladaptive and dysfunctional. 3. Analysis of attributional style found that personal, stable, and global attributions for negative events were closely associated with LH scores and self-reported depressive symptomatology in this sample. 4. Residents, except in the areas of meals and privacy, generally reported satisfaction with the amount of control they had in their treatment setting.