Occupational therapy students' attitudes towards individuals with disabilities: a comparison between Australia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
OT students grow more comfortable with disability as they train, but culture still shapes them and campus inclusion lags behind good intentions.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Brown et al. (2009) asked 1,067 first-year and final-year occupational therapy students in four countries to fill out a 25-item attitude scale. The scale measured comfort, uncertainty, and empowerment beliefs about working with people with disabilities.
Students came from Australia, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The team compared scores by country and by year in school.
What they found
Final-year students felt less discomfort and uncertainty than first-year students in every country. Taiwan students scored lowest on comfort; U.S. students scored highest on empowerment.
The gap between first and final year was largest in Taiwan and smallest in the U.K. Culture and training both shaped attitudes.
How this fits with other research
Sheridan et al. (2013) extends these findings to British high-schoolers. They showed British South Asian teens held more exclusionary views than White British teens, proving cultural differences start before professional training.
Gonzalo et al. (2024) synthesis includes later studies and finds universities still talk inclusion more than they practice it. Their scoping review implies Ted’s 2009 optimism about final-year attitude gains may not translate into real campus supports.
Cheng et al. (2016) used the same survey style with Chinese deaf and hard-of-hearing university students. They found cognitive-style gaps, not attitude gaps, showing survey tools can miss deeper barriers.
Why it matters
If you supervise OT or other health-care students, build cross-cultural attitude checks into supervision. Add role-play with disabled adults early and late in the program to lock in the comfort gains Ted saw. Pair this with real inclusion projects on campus so attitude change turns into action, not just better survey scores.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
INTRODUCTION: Students who are enrolled in professional education programs such as occupational therapy may have inherent attitudes towards the future clients they work with. These attitudes may be influenced by the level of their professional education as well as cultural values of their country of origin. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine occupational therapy students' attitudes towards individuals with disabilities from an international, cross-cultural perspective and to investigate the possible impact of professional education on students' attitudes. METHOD: 485 occupational therapy students from 11 university programs (3 from Australia, 3 from the United Kingdom, 3 from the United States, and 2 from Taiwan) completed the Interactions with Disabled Person's (IDP) scale. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between occupational therapy students from Australia, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom on the following IDP variables: overall attitude towards individuals with disabilities, 'discomfort', 'sympathy', 'uncertainty', 'coping', 'fear', and 'vulnerability'. Significant differences between first year students as a total group and final year students as a total group were found on their overall attitudes towards individuals with disabilities, 'discomfort', and 'uncertainty'. CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS: The attitudes towards individuals with disabilities among first year and final year occupational therapy students varies between countries and the students' year level also impacts on their attitudes towards individuals with a disability.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.07.020