Purpose

The CATM III tool aims to measure the attitudes and opinions of the general population toward people with mental disorders. It is widely used in the fields of psychology, sociology, and psychiatry in order to assess the degree of stigma, acceptance, or rejection that prevails within the community.

Description

The CATM III is the revised version of the original questionnaire developed by Taylor & Dear in 1981. It includes 40 statements that examine four key dimensions of attitudes: authoritarianism, which expresses the belief that people with mental disorders are inferior and require strict control; benevolence, which reflects a more charitable and paternalistic approach toward the mentally ill; social restrictiveness, which conveys the perception that such individuals pose a threat and should be socially restricted; and community mental health ideology, which promotes the integration and intensive care of people with mental disorders within the wider community.

Scoring Method

Responses are given on a 5-point Likert scale: 1 for “Strongly Disagree,” 2 for “Disagree,” 3 for “Neither Agree nor Disagree,” 4 for “Agree,” and 5 for “Strongly Agree.” Participants are asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement, while some items are negatively worded and require reverse scoring for the final calculation.

Main Bibliographic Source

The main bibliographic source of the tool is cited as follows:
Taylor, S. M., & Dear, M. J. (1981). Scaling community attitudes toward the mentally ill. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7(2), 225–240.