Attitudes Towards Persons With Intellectual Disability From Mental Health Professionals in Chile.
Chilean mental-health staff say they respect clients with ID, yet quietly doubt their money and parenting skills—use their own survey to surface and fix these blind spots.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked Chilean mental-health workers how they feel about people with intellectual disability.
Staff filled out a survey that checked for hidden bias around money, parenting, and high-support needs.
What they found
Workers gave warm answers overall, but cracks showed.
They still doubted clients’ ability to handle cash or raise kids.
High-support needs triggered the most worry.
How this fits with other research
Adams et al. (2021) asked U.S. health staff the same style questions and also found comfort with ID care, proving the survey tool works across countries.
Prigge et al. (2013) saw the same pattern in Turkish PE teachers: experience softens bias, echoing the Chile data.
Tsakanikos et al. (2010) looks like a clash—it found U.K. clinics over-diagnose schizophrenia in minority clients with ID.
The new study says attitudes are “generally positive,” yet Elias shows real-world bias still steers diagnosis.
Both can be true: staff think they are fair, but systems still skew care.
Why it matters
You can copy the Chile survey for quick staff self-checks in your clinic.
Add items on money, parenting, and high-support needs—the spots where hidden bias lives.
Share results in a lunch-and-learn and pair new staff with seasoned mentors; daily contact is the cheapest fix the literature keeps pointing to.
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Join Free →Hand the Chile attitude survey to your team, tally the money and parenting items, and plan one role-play that shows supported decision-making in those exact areas.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Stigma towards persons with intellectual disabilities remains a significant barrier to their inclusion and access to healthcare. Mental health professionals (MHPs) play a crucial role in providing appropriate support for people with intellectual disabilities, and their attitudes can influence the quality of care and access to mental health services for this population. This study aims to evaluate the attitudes of Chilean MHPs towards individuals with intellectual disabilities. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 121 MHPs in Chile. Participants completed the Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disability Questionnaire-Short Form (ATTID-SF), assessing five dimensions: discomfort, knowledge of capacity and rights, interaction, sensitivity/tenderness and knowledge of causes. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses and ANOVAs were used to examine differences in attitudes based on sociodemographic variables and prior experience with individuals with intellectual disability. RESULTS: Overall, participants exhibited positive attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disability. However, certain concerns persisted, particularly regarding their capacity to handle finances and parenthood. Psychiatrists demonstrated greater knowledge of causes than psychologists. Women reported higher levels of sensitivity/tenderness than men. Previous contact with individuals with intellectual disability was associated with more positive attitudes. Participants expressed more negative attitudes towards individuals with higher support needs. CONCLUSIONS: While Chilean MHPs generally exhibit positive attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disability, gaps in knowledge and lingering biases highlight the need for enhanced training. Increasing direct contact in clinical practice and promoting interdisciplinary education may help reduce stigma and improve mental health service accessibility for this population.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2025 · doi:10.1111/jir.70005