Predictors of disability-related attitudes: considering self-esteem, communication apprehension, contact, and geographic location

Attitudes towards people with disabilities across different healthcare undergraduate students: A cluster analysis approach

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Negative attitudes towards disability amongst healthcare professionals endanger social inclusion of people with disabilities (PwD). This study aimed to investigate the attitude of undergraduate healthcare students of various disciplines towards PwD, including specific aspects of their attitude.

METHODS

We assessed the attitudes of university students, including physiotherapy, speech therapy, nursing, social work and medical students, through the Greek Interaction with Disabled Person Scale (IDPS) in a survey. Data were analysed using a two-step clustering technique.

RESULTS

Four hundred-eighty undergraduate healthcare students (21.4 ± 5.3 years-old; 135 males, 345 females) were recruited. Two-step cluster analysis identified three homogenous subgroups labelled Least positive attitude (42.3%), Moderately positive attitude (26.9%), and Most positive attitude (30.8%) groups. Τhe main differences in healthcare students' attitudes between the three distinct groups appeared to be in feelings of sympathy, fear and susceptibility towards disability, suggesting that these aspects of attitude needed to be primarily addressed. Results also revealed that females, being in higher semester/year of studies, having completed a clinical module with PwD and having frequent contact with PwD were related to more positive attitudes.

CONCLUSION

Taking into account that the majority of the healthcare students' sample yielded least and moderately positive attitudes, towards PwD, further actions should be taken for promoting more positive attitudes towards disability. A social model in teaching to increase student's awareness of PwD and skills to work with these people, having PwD themselves teaching such modules, focussing on positive experiences and reminding the students of the benefits of having positive attitudes towards PwD, as well as promoting ways to increase the contact of healthcare students with PwD (such as teaching in co-operation with organisations of PwD or finding alternative clinical placements with PwD), can be beneficial in promoting more positive attitudes towards disability.

Mobility challenges and experiences for students with disabilities in Tanzania universities: dealing with a social inclusion nightmare in property management

Purpose

Despite the presence of people with disabilities in higher learning institutions, facilities provided for both accommodation and classrooms prove to be ineffective in fulfilling their expectations. However, the existing measures have tended to be rigid and unable to incorporate the ever evolving user experiences from constantly enrolling students in public campus buildings. The paper is premised on the notion of social inclusivity of the built environment in public universities through user experiences, measured through a qualitative lens.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was qualitative and deployed a case study strategy. Respondents were purposively identified and subjected to in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focused group discussions. The full realisation of the sample frames was determined by data saturation. Data from responses was thereafter sorted, coded and categorised through a systematic thematic analysis. Some responses reactions were reported verbatim. The anonymity of the respondents was observed though through the use of pseudonyms.

Findings

This paper has indicated respondents' experiences regarding social inclusivity of the institutional built environment and thematically categorised them in six areas: complaints mechanism and feedback, pre- and post-enrolment experiences, namely; complaints mechanism and feedback, pre- and post-enrolment experiences and social support as a property management policy. Others include, representation in university decision-making organs, perceptions regarding disability and its needs and distribution of facilities and site works. It recommends that property management practices should be re-oriented to ensure the sustainability of learning facilities for the disabled, taking into consideration the ever-evolving needs and preferences of PWD user students with disabilities.

Originality/value

Linking the social and human rights models to actual experiences of property occupiers is unique. The author believes that it will, in addition to the existing models and strategies, improve on a better achievement of inclusivity of building use used by all categories of members of the society.

Validation of the Mediation Effect Between Cross-Cultural Management and Employee Identification

Purpose

Corporate culture faces a variety of cross-cultural challenges across the globe. Every culture retains and maintains different norms and customs, which are totally unique and different from other cultures. Consequently, employees from different cultures often experience various cross-cultural issues and challenges while working in transnational organizations where employees are needed to understand how people from diverse cultures must work together.

Patients and Methods

The study used mixed research methodology for meeting the paper goals. Both positivism and phenomenology look relevant in a sense that they individually and collectively satisfy the paper objectives. To test mediation and moderation, the authors have used various hypotheses through collecting the sample size of 600 out of 6000 employees working for an Asian group encompassing more than 200 companies. Moderation and mediation strategic management research methods were used with the American Industrial Group in Asia as the setup of the study. Hypotheses were tested on effects of new corporate culture-based learning on the perception of social norms, learning attitude, self-efficacy, and social values. Additional hypotheses were also tested on the effects of perception of social norms, learning attitude, self-efficacy, social values, and psychological control on change intention.

Results

Perceived social norms directly affect the willingness to change as they have been used as mediating variables. Therefore, social norms affect corporate norms.

Conclusion

The paper shows how mediation and moderation are understood and applied through understanding the relationship between local culture and corporate culture. The findings reveal how local culture affects corporate culture. However, there are certain limitations of the study; this includes that the study scope has mostly focused on an Asian context, therefore, it may not be applicable to other continents.