Health Students’ Attitudes towards Disability

Abstract

Background: Individuals with disabilities remain one of the most socially excluded segments of the population, constantly fighting for equal rights and social inclusion. Disability is not an easy subject for health professionals to deal with, in part because it crosses many professional and cultural boundaries.

Objective: The aim of this research is to analyze and understand the various attitudes toward people with disabilities, amongst the final year medical, midwifery and nursing students and to compare the three health departments on their students’ attitudes.

Methods: A questionnaire-based electronic survey was directed to all medical, midwifery and nursing students registered at two big universities in Athens, Greece (n=190). The time frame was decided to encompass a month window (from 2^nd May to 2^nd June 2021).

Results: The Nursing students in the study showed overall a better attitude towards disabled people. Our research mainly indicates the fact that in general, there is need to prioritize training in both theoretical and practical fields through alterations in all three university departments’ curricula.

Conclusions: Undergraduates Health Students (of Nursing, Midwifery and Medicine) generally present a lack of awareness, familiarity and experience towards disabled people. Numerous reasons seemed to influence health professional’s attitudes to people with a disability including their age, gender, nationality, education, years of experience, general knowledge regarding a disability and the level and nature of their training. This research clearly illustrates the importance of improving how universities’ undergraduate curricula address disabilities in an effort to inspire upcoming health professionals.