Abstract
the provision of health care facilities for children with disabilities.
 Purpose: To study the motives of nursing students for choosing to work with children with disabilities; to know about their opinion about the sufficiency of the duration of their internship and the undergraduate internship in centers for with children with disabilities; to understand the factors influencing the professional competencies of nursing students to work with children with disabilities.
 Materials and methods: A survey was conducted among 219 students majoring in Nursing through a structured questionnaire.
 Students expressed their opinion that the duration of the internship in institutions for children with disabilities should be increased [t (2017) = 12.387; p-level < 0.001]. They indicated their willingness to work with children with disabilities [t (217) = 15.432; p-level < 0.001]. Students shared that they experience higher psycho-emotional stress while working with children with disabilities [t (217) = 7.337; p-level < 0.001]. They also believed that the introduction of an elective subject on children with certain types of disabilities would improve their preparedness [t (217) = 8.562; p-level < 0.001].
 Conclusion: The study revealed that the nursing students believe that the present model of student training related to the care of children with disabilities require changes in the following ways: introduction of a separate module Nursing care for children with disabilities; introduction of an elective course on nursing care for children with disabilities; application of pedagogical and psychological approaches for developing the skills for coping with stress; increasing the duration of the internship in the fourth year of study for working with children with disabilities.
Highlights
Problems in children with disabilities can be defined as psychological, pedagogical, medical, sociological, technical and informational difficulties
The main motive for choosing to work with children with disabilities as indicated by 69% of students is to improve the quality of life of such children, 54% of the students wanted to enhance their practical skills, 53% of the students wanted to gain theoretical knowledge on the problem, interaction with specialists in health care and work satisfaction are the motives reported by 43% respondents; developing communication skills is the motive for 21% of the students while 4% indicated other reasons
The study concludes that few changes are required in the course curriculum for nursing students related to the care of children with disabilities in the following areas: First, by dividing the compulsory course of “nursing care for children and adults with disabilities” into two specialized courses “nursing care for children with disabilities” (30 hours) and “nursing care for adults with disabilities”
Summary
Problems in children with disabilities can be defined as psychological, pedagogical, medical, sociological, technical and informational difficulties. It requires a high degree of responsibility and competence in the specialists in a multidisciplinary team to handle such children, and a nurse is at the core of such teams, as she will be there with the children 24 hours a day. Nurses, who are working with children with disabilities must be excellently trained and have specialized social, pedagogical and psychological knowledge and competencies. The main elements in it are verbal and non-verbal communication, personal qualities and professional competence of medical professionals based on mutual respect and respect for universal human values, as per the individual needs and characteristics of the patient (Andonova, 2017)
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