title: Factor analysis of the Spanish Multidimensional Attitudes Scale Toward Persons with Disabilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS) and examine its factor structure using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses on data from a Colombian collegiate sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred students from Sur Colombia University in Neiva, Colombia, completed the Multidimensional Attitudes toward People with Disability scale. Forty-eight percent were male, and the average age for the entire sample was 21.25 years (SD = 3.50). Ninety-eight percent were undergraduates, 23% of whom were business majors and 33% of whom were education majors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of data from half of participants suggested the retention of 4 factors and the deletion of 4 items. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the data from the second half of participants using the 30 retained items and 4-factor structure suggested that the 4-factor model fit adequately with the remaining 30 items. High internal consistency was found for the overall scale (α = .77, .78) and for the 4 resulting subscales: Affect (α = .88, .87), Cognition (α = .92, .90), Behavior (α = .88, .88), and Calm (α = .90, .89).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study modified the MAS to assess attitudes toward persons with disabilities in Colombia. The adequate reliability and fit of the factor structure of the Spanish MAS suggests that it holds promise to help researchers investigate attitudes toward persons with disabilities in Latin America, an important topic to the global disability community.
authors.affiliation: Hunter Holmes McGuire Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
authors.forename: Lillian Flores
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Mimi Almaz
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Getachew
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rivera
authors.forename: Silvia Leonor
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Olivera Plaza
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Arango-Lasprilla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003105:Colombia; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating; D055815:Young Adult