Biomaterial Database

Attitudes towards disability in an undergraduate nursing curriculum: the effects of a curriculum change. 2007

Judy A Seccombe

Universal College of Learning (UCOL), PB 11022, Palmerston North, New Zealand. JudyS@ucol.ac.nz

Through improved technology and treatment and ongoing de-institutionalisation, nurses will encounter growing numbers of people with disabilities in the New Zealand community and hospitals. Quality of nursing care is influenced by attitude and this study was to evaluate the effect of a curriculum change on the attitudes of two different streams of student nurses towards people with disabilities. During the year 2002 a focused disability unit was introduced to the revised undergraduate nursing curriculum of a major educational institution in New Zealand. The opportunity arose to consider student nurses' attitudes toward disabled people, comparing two streams of students undertaking two different curricula. A convenience sample of students completed the attitudes toward disabled persons questionnaire form B (Yuker, H.E., Block, J.R., Younng, J.H., 1970. The Measurement of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons. INA Mend Institute, New York), prior to and on completion of their relevant disability unit. No statistically significant difference in scores was demonstrated. A number of possible reasons for this are suggested.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009520	New Zealand	A group of islands in the southwest Pacific. Its capital is Wellington. It was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 and circumnavigated by Cook in 1769. Colonized in 1840 by the New Zealand Company, it became a British crown colony in 1840 until 1907 when colonial status was terminated. New Zealand is a partly anglicized form of the original Dutch name Nieuw Zeeland, new sea land, possibly with reference to the Dutch province of Zeeland. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p842 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p378)
D009723	Nurse-Patient Relations	Interaction between the patient and nurse.	Nurse Patient Relations,Nurse Patient Relationship,Nurse Patient Relationships,Nurse-Patient Relation,Patient Relations, Nurse,Patient Relationship, Nurse,Patient Relationships, Nurse,Relations, Nurse Patient,Relations, Nurse-Patient,Relationship, Nurse Patient,Relationships, Nurse Patient
D003479	Curriculum	A course of study offered by an educational institution.	Curricula,Short-Term Courses,Course, Short-Term,Courses, Short-Term,Short Term Courses,Short-Term Course
D003688	Deinstitutionalization	The practice of caring for individuals in the community, rather than in an institutional environment with resultant effects on the individual, the individual's family, the community, and the health care system.	Deinstitutionalized Persons,Deinstitutionalized Person,Person, Deinstitutionalized,Persons, Deinstitutionalized
D004506	Education, Nursing	Use for general articles concerning nursing education.	Nursing Education,Educations, Nursing,Nursing Educations
D005260	Female		Females
D006233	Disabled Persons	Persons with physical or mental disabilities that affect or limit their activities of daily living and that may require special accommodations.	Handicapped,People with Disabilities,Persons with Disabilities,Physically Challenged,Physically Handicapped,Physically Disabled,Disabilities, People with,Disabilities, Persons with,Disability, Persons with,Disabled Person,Disabled, Physically,Handicapped, Physically,People with Disability,Person, Disabled,Persons with Disability,Persons, Disabled
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths