title: The effect of occupational therapy education on students' perceived attitudes toward persons with disabilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The effect of occupational therapy education on students' perceived attitudes toward persons with disabilities was studied.
  
  
  METHODS
  The perceived attitudes of 144 occupational therapy students toward persons with disabilities were measured before (retrospective pretest) and after (posttest) the students attended formal professional education at the University of Alberta.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Posttest scores were significantly higher than the retrospective pretest scores, indicating that students' attitudes became more positive after they commenced formal professional education. The posttest scores of students at various levels of education, however, did not show any significant difference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of these observations, a positive but nonlinear relationship between occupational therapy education and attitudes toward persons with disabilities was postulated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000193:education*; D011287:Prejudice; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013240:Stereotyping; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires