Development and Validation of a New Scale to Assess Attitudes and Perspectives Toward Persons With Disabilities (original) (raw)
Related papers
Measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities
Purpose : The purpose of this paper is to assist those engaged in research dealing with attitudestowards persons with disabilities by presenting a catalogue of various attitude measurement methods. Method : A review of the methodological and psychological literatures on the measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Results: The review uncovered 10 direct methods to measure attitudes, in which the respondents are aware that they are participating in an experiment and 14 indirect methods in four categories that are not plagued by attitude-distortingin¯ uences because the respondents are not aware that their attitudes are being measured. A discussion of each method with examples is provided, followed by implications for rehabilitation practitioners , rehabilitation education and training, and rehabilitation researchers. Conclusions : The investigation of attitudes towards persons with disabilities requires innovative experimental methods and psychometrically sound instrumentsthat are reliable, valid, and multidimensional. Without such instruments, it will not be possible to obtain conclusive answers to important research questions concerning the relationship between these attitudes and the acceptance and integration of persons with disabilities into society.
2017
Introduc)on The social and medical models of disability are sets of underlying assump?ons explaining people's beliefs about the causes and implica?ons of disability. • The medical model is the predominant model in the United States that is associated with the belief that disability is an undesirable status that needs to be cured (Darling & Heckert, 2010). This model focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and cura?ve efforts related to disability. • The social model is preferred by disability ac?vists and researchers which focuses on society’s involvement in disability, such as s?gma?za?on, discrimina?on and the interpersonal barriers that are features of one’s disability. The social model suggests that society disables individuals and is the cause of impairment (Olkin, 2003). Allport’s contact hypothesis states that increased contact with people with disabili?es (PWD) will reduce prejudice through rela?onship building and social connec?on (Allport, 1954). • Pe8grew’s Intergroup Con...
2015
Contact with individuals with disabilities influences positive attitudes toward such individuals. This research investigated if contact with individuals with specific disabilities has an effect on attitudes toward other disabilities. Specifically, this research investigated physical, developmental and behavioral disabilities. While participants reported the most contact with individuals with physical disabilities and the most negative attitudes toward individuals with developmental disabilities, contact with individuals with behavioral disabilities was the best predictor of positive attitudes toward all disability types. This demonstrates that the relation between contact and attitudes is more nuanced than originally thought and can help us better understand disability related bias.
Measurement of Factors Affecting the Perception of People with Disabilities in the Workplace
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The issue of employing people with disabilities is crucial from both a social and economic perspective, and is often influenced by the social perception of this group of people. In this article, we attempted to examine attitudes towards the disabled in eight European countries by using one of the most popular tools that measures the perception of such people in everyday life—the Attitudes to Disability Scale (ADS) developed by the WHOQOL Group. We checked the general attitude towards disability according to the ADS scale and the specific perception of disability in the workplace using a scale created ad hoc. The research was conducted in 2019 using the CAWI (computer-assisted web interview) method on representative samples of Internet users, whereas the analysis methods included the measurement reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The obtained results allow for the acceptance of the measurement model of the ADS scale in th...
Changing community attitudes toward greater inclusion of people with disabilities
2019
Community attitudes Recent research supports earlier findings that community attitudes toward inclusion of people with disabilities are generally positive, but tend to be paternalistic. When disabilities are perceived as more severe, stigmatising attitudes, anxiety and discomfort are also more likely to emerge. Research identifies more negative attitudes toward individuals with mental illness (particularly schizophrenia) than toward individuals with other intellectual or developmental disabilities, and that people with physical disabilities experience the least stigma. This is hypothesised to be due to common perceptions that people with mental illnesses are unpredictable and potentially dangerous. People with an intellectual disability 12. customising marketing messages according to organisation size, emphasising the benefits pertinent to small, medium and large organisations 13. including the perspectives of other employers when presenting success stories, in order to communicate the benefits of the employment arrangement from the employers' standpoint.
Perception and Acceptance of People with Disabilities by Employers and Co-Workers
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The perception of people with disabilities is crucial for their full inclusion and in order that they might stay economically active. The measurement tools used should be resistant to the demographic or professional characteristics of the research participants. The article attempts to test this resistance for one of the most popular tools measuring the perception of people with disabilities in everyday life—the Attitudes to Disability Scale (ADS) test developed by the WHOQOL Group. Another issue raised in the article is the acceptance of people with various types of disabilities in terms of their possible employment. We checked the differentiation of acceptance among employers from different countries. This article uses representative samples of respondents from two studies—the CATI research (2019) on samples of Polish employers and co-workers, and the CAWI research (2021) on samples of employers from Poland and Finland. The analysis methods used included confirmatory factor analysi...
Attitudes toward individuals with disabilities: The effects of age, gender, and relationship
2012
Attitudes toward individuals with disabilities are influenced by the amount of contact one has with such individuals. This research investigated if the relationship a person has with individuals with disabilities is associated with positive attitudes more so than mere contact with such individuals. Increased contact with friends with disabilities and activities with individuals with disabilities were associated with more positive altitudes. Contact with relatives and classmates with a disability was not associated with more positive attitudes. Age and gender were found to moderate these relationships. Contact with friends with disabilities increased positive attitudes for younger but not older participants. Contact with classmates with disabilities decreased positive attitudes for males but not females. This research can help us better understand disabilityrelated bias.
Individuals’ attitudes about persons with disability (PwD) strongly affect differently-abled persons’ quality of life and position in society. Some research offers support for the ability of systematic, supported, longitudinal contact between different groups of individuals to improve attitudes. College campuses, in particular, offer a potentially useful arena in which to facilitate this type of contact. This study explored contextual factors (eg, geographic region, biological sex) and predictors of disability-related attitudes among a college student population to determine strategies for course-based intervention design (eg, as community-engaged or service-learning initiatives). Surveying participants from universities in two regions of the United States, we found that self-esteem, audience-based communication apprehension, and contact with PwD explain more than 50% of the variance in disability-related attitudes. Further, we found that geographic location affects both self-esteem and audience-based communication apprehension (communicating/interacting with PwD). We discuss the implications for community engagement and/or service learning and highlight the importance of partnerships among relevant community stakeholders, including university faculty, students, and staff.