Impact of a personnel workshop on the behavior of support employees toward new patients in a psychiatric outpatient clinic.

Thirty new patients in a psychiatric outpatient clinic rated the friendliness, interest, politeness, and informativeness of three functionally distinct groups of support employees. Following a personnel workshop, designed to increase the ability to relate to clients and the understanding of patient problems, ratings were obtained from 30 additional new patients. The overall ratings were favorable, both before and after the workshop, for all employee groups on all behavior variables. One employee group received higher ratings than the other two, and the staff members were perceived by the patients as more informative than congenial. The workshop resulted in increased amicability and decreased informativeness.