Enabling or disabling? Students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities.

Persons with disabilities are devalued by society. Occupational therapists may be contributing to this devaluation through their attitudes. This study focused on the attitudes of undergraduate students. From a sample of 223 occupational therapy students and 326 business students at an Australian university, it was found, with the use of the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale-Form A (Yuker, Block, & Young, 1966), that the attitudes of freshman occupational therapy students did not differ significantly from those of their business-major peers. Furthermore, the occupational therapy students' attitudes did not vary with the years of undergraduate education completed. However, those students who had had contact with persons with disabilities beyond the context of a caregiver-care receiver relationship (i.e., those students who had assumed roles that emphasized valued attributes of the person with a disability) had significantly more positive attitudes than did those students without such contact. Educational curricula must address the issue of students' attitudes and, in particular, the facilitation of valued social role contact with persons with disabilities.     

Influence of occupational therapy curricula on students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities.

The influence of occupational therapy curricula on students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities was studied. Twenty-six female students in either their first or fourth (i.e, final) semester of the occupational therapy curriculum were assessed with the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP) (Yukor, Block, & Younng, 1966). A comparison group, 26 female students in either their first or fourth semester of the medical technology program, was also assessed with this scale. As hypothesized, the fourth-semester occupational therapy students showed significantly higher scores than did the other three groups of subjects. Also as predicted, this same group showed significantly higher scores than their first-semester counterparts and the fourth-semester medical technology students. No significant difference was found between first-semester and fourth-semester medical technology students. The occupational therapy curriculum appears to positively influence students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities.     

Attitudes towards disability in an undergraduate nursing curriculum: the effects of a curriculum change

Through improved technology and treatment and ongoing de-institutionalisation, nurses will encounter growing numbers of people with disabilities in the New Zealand community and hospitals. Quality of nursing care is influenced by attitude and this study was to evaluate the effect of a curriculum change on the attitudes of two different streams of student nurses towards people with disabilities. During the year 2002 a focused disability unit was introduced to the revised undergraduate nursing curriculum of a major educational institution in New Zealand. The opportunity arose to consider student nurses' attitudes toward disabled people, comparing two streams of students undertaking two different curricula. A convenience sample of students completed the attitudes toward disabled persons questionnaire form B (Yuker, H.E., Block, J.R., Younng, J.H., 1970. The Measurement of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons. INA Mend Institute, New York), prior to and on completion of their relevant disability unit. No statistically significant difference in scores was demonstrated. A number of possible reasons for this are suggested.     

Attitudes of nurse professionals and nursing students towards children with disabilities. Do nurses really overcome children's physical and mental handicaps?

Background:  Many health professionals and nurses, who are involved in the care of disabled children, do not exhibit the essential sensitivity and appropriate attitudes towards them, resulting in a poor quality of nursing care.
Aim:  The objective of this study was to investigate the attitudes of nurse professionals (paediatric nurses) and nursing students towards disabled children.
Patients and methods:  The present study is a comparative study. The sample consisted of 228 first-year nursing students, 90 post-diploma nurses attending MSc degree course and 123 nurse professionals who are employed in paediatric hospitals. After obtaining permission from the hospitals and the educational settings and informing about the subjects of the study, data were collected using the paediatric Attitude Towards Disabled Person Scale (ATDP).
Results:  Overall nurses' attitudes appeared to be poor (mean ATDP score 61.7 ± 14.2). However, the post-diploma nurses had significantly higher ATDP scores than first-year students and paediatric nurses ( P  < 0.001). In addition, first-year students had significantly higher scores than paediatric nurses ( P  = 0.047). Across the sample, females hold significantly more positive attitudes than males ( F  = 9.5, P  = 0.002), while age did not have any significant effect.
Conclusions:  Carefully designed curricula can influence the attitudes of nursing students towards children with disabilities. Special courses for treating disabled children should be integrated to the basic nursing studies. Moreover, continuing hospital education can change paediatric nurses' attitudes towards children with disabilities.     

Health professional student attitudes towards people with disability

OBJECTIVE: To investigate health professional student attitudes toward people with disability. It was hypothesized that attitude and comfort would differ by discipline. Further, it was hypothesized that factors such as gender and background in disability would influence these attitudes and their ease in dealing with difficult encounters in rehabilitation. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey design. SETTING: University of South Dakota (USD) PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred and thirty-eight students were surveyed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (a) Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale; (b) Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP); (c) Rehabilitation Situations Inventory (RSI). RESULTS: There were differences among student groups on the attitude scales and factor scores. All students' attitudes were less positive than SADP norms and nursing students held the least positive opinions. There were no attitudinal differences by gender. Those with a background in disability held more positive attitudes. Years of experience and hours per week employed predicted comfort with challenging rehabilitation situations. Inconsiderate treatment by staff, inappropriate sexual overtures and aggressive behaviour by patients were stated to be most challenging. CONCLUSION: Health professional students hold less positive attitudes than SADP norms. Nursing undergraduate students were at greater risk of holding negative attitudes. Work experience was important for comfort with challenging rehabilitation situations. Specific educational experiences are needed to promote more positive attitudes.     

The Effect of Prior Experience in a Rehabilitation Setting on Students' Attitudes Toward the Disabled

The attitudes and reactions of rehabilitation nurses and nursing students toward patients with disabilities are important to the patients' adjustment and care over time. The purpose of this research study was to examine the effect of prior work experience and clinical experience in a rehabilitation setting on students' attitudes toward the disabled. The study involved the administration of Yuker, Block, and Young's (1966) Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP). Nursing students (N = 225) appropriately completed the ATDP before and I month after attending an educational workshop on care of people with disabilities. Prior work experience with such people was found to have a significant impact on student attitudes. Subjects with prior work experience in a rehabilitation setting had significantly higher scores on the ATDP, indicating more positive attitudes toward people with disabilities, than did subjects without this experience. Students who had clinical experience in a rehabilitation setting had higher scores on the ATDP than students without it, but the difference was not statistically significant.     

Medical students' attitudes toward persons with disability: a comparative study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate first-year medical students' attitudes toward persons with disability and to examine whether gender and a background in disability determine attitudes toward persons with disability. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. SETTING: University settings in the United States and Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety first-year medical students (US, n=46; Canada, n=44) were surveyed. INTERVENTION: Medical students given 3 surveys. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale, Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP), and Rehabilitation Situations Inventory (RSI). RESULTS: There were no differences between the medical student groups from the United States and Canada. Compared with norms, medical students overall have more positive attitudes on the ATDP. Their attitudes were less positive on the SADP and on its optimism-human rights subscale. On the RSI, they were less comfortable with sexual situations and depression. Male medical students held poorer attitudes as scored than female medical students. Those with a background in disability were more comfortable dealing with challenging rehabilitation situations. Comfort with challenging rehabilitation situations showed significant differences across levels of experience but not gender. The more positive medical students' attitudes are toward persons with disability, the more likely they are to be comfortable with challenging rehabilitation situations. CONCLUSION: First-year medical students from the United States and Canada held similar attitudes and had less positive attitudes than SADP norms. Gender and background in disability influenced attitudes. Male medical students were more likely to hold negative attitudes. Specific educational experiences need to promote more positive attitudes.     

An Educational Program's Effects on Students' Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities: A 1-Year Follow-Up

The purpose of the study described here was to examine the attitudes of nursing students toward people with disabilities 1 year after the students had participated in an educational program on caring for such people. The program provided (a) information about this care, (b) simulated experiences related to different aspects of care, and (c) contact with disabled people as well as with rehabilitation health professionals. The study also examined how students' attitudes were influenced by the students' age, the number of years they had spent in the nursing program, their degree of experience in caring for people with disabilities, and their amount of personal interaction with disabled people. The Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale was administered to 67 nursing students before they completed the workshop. The participants were tested again 1 year later, thereby providing a matched group for examining attitude changes over time. The participants' attitudes were significantly more positive at the follow-up. At the 1-year follow-up, the ATDP scores of the intervention group were also compared with those of a second group of nursing students (n = 170) who had not participated in the educational program. The findings suggested that completion of the educational program was an important influence on students' development of positive attitudes toward people with disabilities.     

Attitudes of occupational therapy personnel toward persons with disabilities

The study described in the following article investigated the attitudes of occupational therapy personnel toward persons with disabilities. The examination involved attitudes in general as measured by the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP) (Antonak, 1981), specific attitudes toward infants with Down's syndrome, beliefs concerning the importance of favorable attitudes toward patients, and beliefs concerning the role of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) in the development of ethical guidelines for the delivery of health care services. The results of a survey of 619 occupational therapy personnel indicate that they hold a very favorable attitude toward persons with disabilities, and that they believe that a negative attitude would adversely affect the therapeutic relationship. The majority agree that the expression of a favorable attitude should be a criterion in student selection. The majority also agree that AOTA should develop position papers on ethical issues and take a public position on issues pertinent to the rights of the disabled person. Occupational therapy personnel proved to be very homogeneous on the general attitudinal scale. However, the Down's syndrome scenario uncovered significant differences among the different categories of respondents in the variables for professional level, area of practice, years of practice, and geographic location. A majority of respondents agreed that is is unethical to withhold needed surgery from a child because of disability. However, they differed on the ethics of aborting a fetus with Down's syndrome (most thought it was unethical).     

Reactions of nurses and therapists in mainstream health services to contact with people who have learning disabilities

Government policy in the United Kingdom is to make the National Health Service accessible to all citizens, including those who hitherto may have relied on specialist services. It is recognized that the attitudes of health professionals can be a major influence in making this happen. To date there has been a paucity of research studies involving nurses and therapists, two of the largest groupings of health care workers. The present study contrasted the reactions of nurses and therapists to their contact with people who have learning disabilities, with those of staff working in specialist services for this client group, and with students who are not involved in health services. Over 1000 respondents - mainly university students on undergraduate or post-graduate courses - completed a written questionnaire. Although nurses and therapists had significantly less contact with people who had learning disabilities during their work than did staff in specialist services, there were no differences in terms of contact in personal life. In both instances their contacts were higher than those reported for non-healthcare students. However both nurses and therapists were significantly less confident in working with a patient who had learning disabilities as opposed to one with physical disabilities. By contrast, willingness for social contacts did not vary across the four groups although respondents with previous personal contact were significantly more willing for this than those with no prior contact. The results confirm that the form of contact is a more salient variable on staff attitudes than contact per se. Hence, changed reactions are more likely to come about from successful contacts in a work rather than social environment. The implications are discussed for initial and post-qualifying training courses, especially for suitable placement experiences. Suggestions are made for future research that focuses on increasing the expertise and confidence of nurses and therapists in working with patients who have learning disabilities.     

Attitudes of nurses in a general hospital towards people with learning disabilities: influences of contact, and graduate-non-graduate status, a comparative study

A review of the literature suggests people with learning disabilities are viewed negatively by others in society Such negative views have also been found among many health care professionals, including nurses This study measured the attitudes of a randomly selected sample of nurses in a general hospital (n=31) towards people with learning disabilities The study involved a triangulation approach utilizing a Likert scale attitude measurement questionnaire Two comparisons between subjects in the study were undertaken—a comparison of the attitudes of graduate nurses and those who were non-graduates, a comparison between nurses who had most contact, and those who had least contact with people who have learning disabilities From the sample of 31 nurses, 10 subjects were selected for more in-depth interviews which were tape recorded, transcribed and, using the process of 'content analysis', quantified
Findings suggest the attitudes held by the total sample towards people with learning disabilities were more negative than would be expected from those in a caring profession The graduate nurses were found to be more positive in their perceived attitudes towards people with learning disabilities than non-graduate nurses Nurses in the sample who had high contact were found to have more positive attitudes than nurses who had lower amounts of contact with people who had learning disabilities     

Modifying attitudes toward disabled persons while resocializing spinal cord injured patients

An attempt was made to modify attitudes toward disabled persons and to provide an effective resocialization experience for newly handicapped patients. The attitude modification procedure was based on Lewin's theory of attitude change. Resocialization was defined as an experience which would enhance the patient's social competence and would address social deprivation during hospitalization. Subjects were women college students and men patients from the spinal cord injury (SCI) unit of a Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center. Results showed that the contact-plus-information experience, arranged between the students and patients, produced a significant improvement in attitudes as measured by the Attitude Toward Disabled Person (ATDP) scale. The experience was also found to constitute effective resocialization for the SCI patients. Practical implications regarding increased community involvement in the rehabilitation process are discussed.     

Attitudes to disability of Russian occupational therapy and nursing students

Positive student attitudes toward disability are essential to client-centred rehabilitation. Instilling such attitudes in students enrolled in the first occupational therapy (OT) and post-diploma nursing management (NM) courses in Russia was a key objective of the curriculum development team. The team's aim was to combat the traditional Russian attitude of pity, dependence and marginalization. To this end, the introductory classes were developed and taught by teachers from the All Russia Society of Disabled (ARSD). This paper examines the attitudes to disability in Russia and compares the attitudes of three groups of students. Students in the OT and NM programmes (n = 18) in Volgograd were compared to other nursing students in the same college (n = 21) and to nursing students in a Moscow medical school (n = 20). All completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP). The Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistics revealed that students in the OT and NM programmes had significantly more positive scores (P = 0.01) than either of the other groups. This suggests that the strategies adopted by the curriculum team were successful in developing positive attitudes in students.     

Assessment of functional incontinence in disabled living centres

Disabled Living is part of the network of disabled living centres throughout Britain. These centres enable anyone to try out equipment that may help them with everyday activities of living. The centres are staffed by occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, information providers, administration staff and volunteers.     

Attitudes towards people with physical or intellectual disabilities: nursing students and non‐nursing peers

Title. Attitudes towards people with physical or intellectual disabilities: nursing students and non‐nursing peers. Aim. This paper is a report of a study of the attitudes of Dutch nursing students towards people with physical or intellectual disabilities. Background. Attitudes of healthcare professionals are a major factor in the rehabilitation and self‐acceptance of persons with disabilities. Consequently, it is important that nurses develop or maintain positive attitudes towards people with disabilities during their education. However, more knowledge is needed about current attitudes of nursing students and factors influencing these attitudes. Methods. A sample of Dutch nursing students (n = 81) and an age‐matched group of non‐nursing peers (n = 48) completed standardized scales measuring attitudes about physically or intellectually disabled people. Data were collected in 2006. Findings. Nursing students were more positive towards physically disabled people than their peers, and more strongly endorsed empowerment and similarity of intellectually disabled people. These attitudinal differences generally remained statistically significant after multivariate adjustment for demographic variables and experience and contact with individuals with disabilities. An important independent determinant of a positive attitude towards physically disabled people in the total sample was having a relative or friend with a physical disability. This association, however, was not apparent in attitudes towards intellectually disabled persons. Conclusion. Educational interventions aimed at improving attitudes towards people with disabilities should include focus on forms of contact beyond the context of formal care relationships.     

The effects of an in-service program upon the attitudes of nursing aides.

Twenty-six female nursing aides were divided into two groups to determine whether an in-service training program would enhance their attitudes toward physically disabled geriatric patients requiring custodial care. The Attitude Toward Disabled Persons Questionnaire (ATDP) was administered to the experimental and control groups before and after the in-service training program. Each in-service program consisted of a lecture on a specific topic followed by informal discussion of patient care. Three research hypotheses were tested to evaluate the effectiveness of the in-service program in altering attitudes toward the physically disabled: (1) The experimental group would score higher on post-test than on pre-test; (2) The control group would not score higher on post-test than on pre-test; and (3) The experimental group would change more from pre-test to post-test than would the control group. All three research hypotheses were supported (the first at p less than .005 and the third at p less than .01). Limitation of the study and suggestions for further research were discussed.     

A national survey of occupational therapy students' and physiotherapy students' attitudes to disabled people

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible influence of curricular and non-curricular activities on the attitudes of occupational therapy and physiotherapy students towards disabled people at the beginning and end of their pre-registration education. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey. SETTING: United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: Two thousand two hundred and ninety-nine students. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Interaction with Disabled Persons' Scale. RESULTS: Occupational therapy and physiotherapy programmes attract different types of student. Occupational therapy students' attitudes to disabled people were significantly more positive than those of physiotherapy students at the beginning (P < 0.0001) and end (P < 0.0001) of their respective programmes. Students with disabled family members (P < 0.0001) and informal social contact with disabled people (P < 0.0001) had significantly more positive attitudes than those without such contact, and such students tend to choose occupational therapy as a career. Work experience with disabled people did not significantly influence the attitudes towards disabled people of occupational therapy students at the end of their programme (P = 0.187) but did for all other students. A significantly higher proportion of occupational therapy students undertake extracurricular employment and socialize with disabled people than their physiotherapy counterparts. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapy students hold less positive attitudes to disabled people than occupational therapy students at both the beginning and end of their pre-registration education. Physiotherapy educators need to give greater credit for work experience with disabled people and to ensure the provision of appropriate disability training to counteract possible overemphasis on physical impairments in the curricula.     

Nurse practitioners' and students' attitudes towards people with disabilities.

This article reports the results of assessments of nurse practitioners' and nursing students' attitudes toward people with disabilities. Findings of three projects that used the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale suggest that Australian nurses' and nursing students' attitudes are more positive than those of the general population and that nurse education strategies are effective in promoting positive attitudes. These findings contrast with the results of overseas studies which indicate that health professionals' attitudes toward people with disabilities are negative and unaccepting.