Preconceptions of nurses and clients were measured through semantic differential scales (Osgood et al 1957) These scales are attitude measuring instruments with 7-point scales between bipolar adjective pairs (e g good— bad) The specific adjective pairs used were determined through a preliminary survey of 20 newly formed nurse- client dyads who were asked to give descriptions of each other, and through comparisons with descriptions of nurse and client stereotypes described m the literature Cronbanh's alpha for the various time intervals, including both client and nurse forms, ranged from 0 75 to 0 86