Assessing Attitudes of Hospital Staff Toward Working With Co-Workers With Disabilities: A Preliminary Study

Assessing disability inclusion attitudes across all levels of an organization is critically important to changing workplace culture and to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for people with disabilities. However, there is a paucity of research that has a focus on attitudes of staff level employees w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of Rehabilitation 2020, Vol.86 (4), p.14
Main Authors: Wehman, Paul, Sima, Adam P, Chan, Fong, Ham, Whitney, Junod, Paul, Iwanaga, Kanako, McDonough, Jennifer, Brooke, Alissa, Godwin, James C., Jr
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Corporate culture
Disabled persons
Employees
Medical personnel
Social aspects
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Assessing disability inclusion attitudes across all levels of an organization is critically important to changing workplace culture and to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for people with disabilities. However, there is a paucity of research that has a focus on attitudes of staff level employees who work with people with disabilities on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to validate a brief measure entitled the Employees Attitudes toward Working with People with Disabilities Scale (EAWPDS) to assess staff's attitudes toward working with co-workers with disabilities in a hospital setting with 210 hospital staff as participants. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used. The results supported a two-factor measurement structure: (a) positive attitudes and (b) negative attitudes with relevant internal consistency reliability and construct validity. In the present study, both positive attitudes and negative attitudes were found to be associated with good help mission, perceived benefits, do good spirit and inclusion in the expected direction. Implications of potential use of the EAWPDS for rehabilitation professionals were discussed.
ISSN:0022-4154