Abstract
The attitudes of U.S. nurses toward children with disabilities have not been adequately measured over time and after an educational intervention. Disability content has not been a priority in nursing education and, if present, the focus has been on adults with disabilities. The attitudes of nurses play a significant role in the provision of quality healthcare services they provide for children with disabilities. This quantitative, experimental research measured the attitudes of graduating nursing students (N= 88) toward children with disabilities utilizing the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP-B) before and after disability education. The control group consisted of 44 nurses while a group of 44 nurses received the treatment. The differences between the groups was measured at pretest (time 1), immediate posttest (time 2) after an educational module, and delayed posttest (time 3) one month follow up, utilizing repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Multivariate tests for within subject effect of the ATDP-B demonstrated that the dependent variable of attitudes as measured by the ATDP-B scale changes over time and after an educational module based on children with disabilities were (F= [2, 85] = 28.59, p < .01). It was discovered that the ATDP-B level changes over time, dependent on the group (F [2, 85] = 51.15, p < .01). Also, the between subjects main effect of group was significant across ATDP-B measurements ( F = [1, 86] = 32.53, p <.01). The results of this research suggest that there is a significant difference in means of ATDP-B measurements between groups which indicates that the graduating nurses who received disability education performed significantly better on an assessment of attitudes toward children with disabilities than those who did not receive the education. The findings of this research should compel nursing faculty to reevaluate curriculum content, provide specific attitude measurements of nursing students at various levels of education, and develop protocols that can assist students in learning to care for children with disabilities. Future research can be designed to measure attitudes of nurses toward children with disabilities at various levels of nursing education, in several nursing education programs within or outside the U.S, or as a comparison to other healthcare professionals.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Phi, Mu Upsilon
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Approach
Quantitative Research
Keywords:
Nurses' Attitudes, Disabled Children, Nursing Curriculum
Advisors
Fatata-Hall, Kimberley
Degree
Doctoral-Other
Degree Grantor
Northcentral University
Degree Year
2011
Recommended Citation
Marsala-Cervasio, Kathleen A., "Attitudes of nurses toward children with disabilities" (2019). Dissertations. 565.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/565
Rights Holder
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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
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Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2019-08-22
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3486056; ProQuest document ID: 909541920. The author still retains copyright.