Attitudes toward people with disabilities: a comparison between health care professionals and students

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the attitudes of health care professionals and their students towards people in Hong Kong with disabilities. The attitudes of four groups of professionals and students (physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and nurses) were assessed using the well-documented Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale through the methodology of mailed questionnaires. Comparisons were made among different groups of students and professionals in order to gain insight into factors affecting their behavior. In this study, 511 students and 489 professionals were selected randomly. The results indicated that the overall mean Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale score of the respondents was comparatively lower than that of their counterparts in foreign countries. The professionals had a significantly higher attitudinal score than the students. Among the four disciplines, nurses held the least favorable attitudes towards people with disabilities. In addition, their attitudes were less positive than those of the student nurses. On the other hand, the social work students had less favorable attitudes than the professional social workers, as well as other types of health care students. The analysis of the data also revealed that the mean Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale scores for both the occupational therapists and occupational therapy students were above the overall average. Unlike the physiotherapists, the mean Attitude Toward Disabled Persons scale score of the physiotherapy students was below the overall average. In addition, age, year of study, educational level, knowledge and contact with people with disabilities were significant factors in the attitudes held by the students and professional respondents. The quality of the contact was found to be a dominant factor in affecting the scores on attitude. Thus, recommendations were made to modify the current training curriculum and enhance the quality of services to develop more favorable attitudes towards people with disabilities.

Attitudes of Nurses Toward Children With Disabilities: The Attitudes of Nursing Students Toward Children With Disabilities: An Experimental Design

“…The attitudes of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, and nurses in Hong Kong were assessed utilizing the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale form O [35,36]. The goal of this research was to compare healthcare students and practicing professionals in the groups described above.…”

Contact with Young Adults with Disability Led to a Positive Change in Attitudes toward Disability among Physiotherapy Students

“…They concur with findings from previous studies that suggest increased contact with people with disability can change physiotherapy student attitudes toward disability. [6][7][8] We found a positive change in attitudes to disability among students who spent a relatively short amount of time (12 hours) working with a young adult with disability. Overall, the average change in students' ratings of discomfort with interacting with people with disability was larger than the average change reported after a 12-week campus-based university curriculum for physiotherapy students focusing on neurological disability.…”

“…5 Past studies found that physiotherapy students who had a close family member with a disability, who had prior social contact with people with disabilities, or who had worked with people with disabilities possessed more positive attitudes toward disability than their peers who did not have such experiences. 6,7 Practising physiotherapists have more positive attitudes to disability than physiotherapy students, 8 and physiotherapy students show positive changes in their attitudes toward disability as they progress through their degree, 6,7 which may be explained by their exposure to more opportunities for contact with people with disability. However, increased contact alone may not lead to more positive attitudes.…”

Determinante stavova studenata medicine i zdravstvene njege prema osobama sa ometenošću

“…Imajuću to na umu, mnogi istraživači su ispitivali stavove zdravstvenih radnika (ljekara, medicinskih sestara, fizioterapeuta i sl.) prema osobama sa ometenošću [10,13,14]. Ništa manje pažnje se ne posvećuje proučavanju stavova budućih zdravstvenih radnika, tj.…”

“…Druga studija pronalazi da studenti zdravstvenih struka imaju gore stavove od samih zdravstvenih radnika (fizioterapeuta, socijalnih radnika, okupacionih terapeuta i sestara). U istom istraživanju, među zdravstvenim radnicima medicinske sestre pokazuju najnegativnije stavove [13].…”