Investigation of Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons and Disability Awareness of University Students Providing Health Care

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of present study was to determine the attitudes of university students who provide health services towards the disabled and to evaluate their disability awareness. Materials and Methods: A total of 291 volunteer students studying in the Vocational School of Health Services, Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) and performing clinical practice at KTU Farabi Hospital were included in this research. A socio-demographic questionnaire form was used to determine the individual characteristics of the students in the study, and the ‘Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale’ (ATDP) was performed to determine their attitudes towards persons with disabilities. At the end of the study, the characteristics of the students’ socio-demographic and attitude scores were evaluated and the results were analyzed statistically. Results: The students’ ATDP score average was 61.75±12.34, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.573. Statistically significant differences were determined between situations whether the students have chronic diseases and whether their disabilty-related education participate and their ATDP scores (p<0.05). In the study, the rate of students who stated that they desired to share a home with a disabled person was 61.5%, the rate of those who stated that they worked with a disabled person during their clinical practice at the hospital was 14.8%, and the rate of those who stated that they desired to work with a disabled person was 77.7%. 3.4% of the students stated that they knew sign language and 55.3% stated that they had encountered a hearing impaired person at least once during their clinical practice in the hospital. Conclusion: This study shows that our students have less prejudices against persons with disabilities and can empathize at a sufficient level, and that our students have awareness of people with disabilities and this awareness can be increased. In order to positively increase the attitudes of health field students towards disabled persons, disability-related regulations should be introduced in the education curricula and awareness-raising activities should be included more.