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Abstract
Background: Attitudes of healthcare students towards Persons with disabilities may influence future clinical interactions, communication, and delivery of inclusive healthcare. Assessing these attitudes can help identify areas requiring improvement in undergraduate healthcare education.
Objective: To assess attitudes towards Persons with disabilities among undergraduate students at Khyber Medical University (KMU), Peshawar, and examine differences according to sociodemographic characteristics, academic institute, semester of study, and contact experiences.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 undergraduate students from the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Institute of Paramedical Sciences, and Institute of Nursing Sciences at KMU, Peshawar. Participants were selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire assessing attitudes and contact experiences. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics and group comparisons were used to examine differences in attitude scores, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.
Results: All 350 questionnaires distributed were returned, yielding a reported response rate of 100%. The overall mean attitude score was 35.52. Most participants expressed sympathy towards people with visual disabilities (96.3%) and those using wheelchairs (94.0%). However, 63.1% agreed or strongly agreed that people who looked or acted differently frightened them, while 52.9% agreed or strongly agreed that people reporting emotional problems might be pretending. Mean attitude scores differed significantly by gender, with higher scores among male students than female students (36.00 ± 4.15 vs. 34.74 ± 3.84; p = 0.006). Significant differences were also reported across academic institutes (p < 0.001) and semesters (p < 0.001). Several reported contact experiences were associated with differences in mean attitude scores.
Conclusion: Undergraduate students demonstrated generally favorable attitudes towards Persons with disabilities according to the overall score reported in the thesis. Nevertheless, specific responses revealed persistent misconceptions and concerns about disability. Disability-awareness education, respectful communication training, and meaningful interaction with Persons with disabilities should be incorporated into undergraduate healthcare programs. These findings should be interpreted cautiously because of the cross-sectional design and inconsistencies in the original thesis data.