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ERIC Number: EJ1479089
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Aug
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1935-9772
EISSN: EISSN-1935-9780
Available Date: 2025-01-04
Measuring Health Sciences Students' Attitudes toward Persons with Disabilities: Is One Scale Better than Another?
Isabel Hartner1; William S. Brooks2; Tanvee Sinha3; Ashley Parish4; Donald H. Lein Jr.4; Elizabeth Wylie4,5; Cathy Carver5; David Goretzko6; Adam B. Wilson7
Anatomical Sciences Education, v18 n8 p774-785 2025
Negative attitudes toward persons with disabilities (PWDs) can lead to stigmatization and exclusion, underscoring the need for effective tools to measure and address such attitudes in educational settings. This study compares the psychometric properties of two scales used to assess attitudes toward PWDs among health science learners: the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS) and the Attitudes and Perspectives Toward Persons with Disabilities Scale (APPD). This research examines the internal consistency, factor stability, factor replicability, and convergent validity of these scales across different measurement occasions using data from second-year Medical (n = 102) and Doctor of Physical Therapy (n = 39) students. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with bootstrapping revealed that both scales yielded three-factor solutions with varying degrees of factor stability and replicability. The MAS's three-factor structure--Affect, Cognitive, and Behavioral--demonstrated stronger internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha [greater than or equal to] 0.838) and better factor replicability (Tucker congruence coefficients [greater than or equal to] 0.88) than the APPD across pre- and post-intervention datasets. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted as a second test of replicability and revealed that neither scale demonstrated ideal model fit when applying post-intervention data to the pre-intervention measurement model. Convergent validity analysis indicated a medium positive correlation between MAS and APPD scores (r = 0.368, p < 0.001), suggesting only moderate overlap in the constructs they measure. When used with health sciences students, the MAS demonstrated superior psychometric properties compared to the APPD. However, both scales showed limitations and inconsistencies across measurement occasions, highlighting the need for further refinement and validation.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Rush Medical College, Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, USA; 2Department of Cell, Developmental & Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; 3Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; 4Department of Physical Therapy, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; 5Spain Rehabilitation Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; 6Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands; 7Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, USA