title: Measurement of attitudes of trainee professionals to people with disabilities.
abstract: The importance of measuring attitudes of trainee professionals to people with disabilities was addressed. A questionnaire which included the Scale of Attitudes toward Disabled Persons (SADP) and the Intellectual Disability Misconceptions Scale (IDMS) was completed by first and final year tertiary students enrolled in a 3-year course on intellectual disability. The attitude measures did not discriminate between the two groups of students, psychometric properties were poor and the factor structure of the SADP did not replicate previous findings. As expected, there was some convergence between the two attitude measures, and relationships to subject variables were consistent with previous research. Recommendations for subsequent research were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Disability Research Centre, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bundoora, Australia.
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Beckwith
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Matthews
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*