Impact of participation in Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® on attitudes of health professionals through direct contact with people with intellectual disability

Abstract

Purpose The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the participation of students and health professionals who provided free health screenings for athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) during their sports competitions on their attitudes toward people with ID. Methods Quantitative data were collected from 51 students and health professionals during the 2017 Summer Games organised by Special Olympics Québec. A single group test-retest design was used. Descriptive analyses and univariate t test analyses with paired samples were performed. Two instruments were used: the Attitudes toward Intellectual Disability – Short Form (ATTID-SF) questionnaire and a questionnaire on attitudes toward people with ID in a clinical context. Results The respondents’ attitudes improved significantly on two of the five ATTID-SF factors (Interaction and Sensitivity or tenderness) and on seven of the 23 items in the questionnaire on attitudes in a clinical context. The largest pre-post differences were observed for feeling more comfortable interacting with people with ID. Conclusions This study suggests that it is possible to improve attitudes, and more specifically the behavioural dimension of attitudes, through social and professional experiences fostering direct contact between health professionals and people with ID, and that this could contribute to better health care for this population.