The residential burglary deterrent effects of a helicopter patrol procedure were investigated in four separate areas with a multiple baseline technology. The helicopter was flown during an 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. period in two high density population areas of approximately 9.82 and 14.71 square miles and two low density population areas of 117.49 and 89.97 square miles. The helicopter patrol reduced residential burglaries without crime displacement in the two high density areas but had no deterrent effects in the low density areas. The costs of the helicopter patrol were justified by the benefits that resulted from the reduced home burglaries in the two high density areas. Because the helicopter patrol program is funded by general tax revenues, there is a disparity between those people paying for the procedure (all residents of Nashville) and those citizens that receive the burglary deterrent benefits (only residents of high-density areas). This distribution of benefit limitation suggests two courses of action: (1) The helicopter should be flown only in high population density areas even though the low population density areas are also victimized by high burglary rates. (2) A more comprehensive burglary reduction program must be developed so that effective deterrence can be realized in low density areas. These latter techniques would supplement helicopter patrol strategies and thus form a comprehensive burglary deterrent package that has an equitable benefit distribution.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1980

Causal attributions: bias in the nurse-patient relationship.

The study relates the social psychological concept of attribution to professional nursing practice. Namely, dispositional vs. situational causal attribution as affected by position (nurse/patient) and role (actor/observer) and its impact on the therapeutic relationship. Contrary to most studies in this field this one moves out of the laboratory and tests actual psychiatric patients and correspondent nursing staff. Twenty nurses and twenty patients responded to statements representing situational and dispositional causal attributions about 22 behaviors of nurses and 22 behaviors of patients. Both patients and nurses tended to attribute the behavior of patients to causes inherent in their personality more often than to external factors. Nurses also tended to give more internal causation to their own behavior while patients gave equal numbers of external and internal causes to nurses' behavior. The findings which support an information processing approach to understanding perceptions are discussed as to their implications for the nurse-patient relationship.

Adult↗

PubMed1980