Hayward L1, Fragala-Pinkham M2, Schneider J3
1Northeastern University, Boston, United States, 2Franciscan Children's Hospital, Physical Therapy, Brighton, United States, 3Hogar Para Sus Ninos, Latacunga, Ecuador
Background: World-wide over a billion people, or 15% of the population, live with a disability. Ecuador has over 400,000 people living with disabilities. A disability can lead to poverty and poorer standards of living due to reduced access to education, employment, housing, and healthcare services. People with disabilities (PWD) face many barriers to full participation in society and barriers are generated by negative attitudes created through people´s socio-cultural experiences. Strategies for increasing public awareness and understanding of disability can be promoted through education and public information sessions. Studies examining outcomes on disability awareness training (DAT) exist in high resourced countries, but are limited in Ecuador.
Purpose:
1) Develop, and conduct a 90-minute DAT module for a sample of residents of Latcunga, Ecuador and
2) Evaluate the short-term impact of the training on the residents´ perception of disability.
Methods: Using a eight step community-based participatory evaluation (CBPE) process, Ecuadorian community stakeholders and faculty and students from a US based doctor of physical therapy program collaborated in the design, coordination, delivery, and evaluation of a community driven initiative (DAT).
Three types of data were collected to assess the outcomes of the DAT: Spanish version of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale (MAS) which is 30 question Likert-scale survey designed to measure attitudes towards PWD, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, and interviews with 9 DAT participants. The 90-minute DAT was provided by the DPT team to 60 members of the community. The MAS was administered pre- and post-DAT. Part of the DAT included a SWOT analysis. Nine DAT participants were recruited for 30 minute interviews to gather additional information about their perceptions of PWD after the DAT. Data were analyzed using Mann Whitney U and qualitative thematic analysis.
Results: Complete MAS data was collected from 55 participants (14 males, 41 females) ages 15-69 years. Mann Whitney U analysis on the four MAS constructs revealed significant improvement for emotion p=0.005 and cognition p=0.003. Strengths identified clustered in two categories: infrastructure and government. Weakness included lack of infrastructure, which restricted a PWD´s access to public spaces and transportation, poor attitude displayed towards PWD by family and society. Opportunities identified increasing infrastructure, vocational prospects, and mitigating negative attitudes. Threats incorporated limited infrastructure and resources to support PWD, few educational/vocational prospects, negative attitude towards PWD and perceived limitations due to disability.
Five major themes emerged from the interview data:
1) view of disability,
2) contact;
3) attitude,
4) training impact; and
5) action.
Conclusion(s): Participating in a DAT improved emotion and cognitive attitudes towards PWD in the short-term. Areas identified for the community to address include mitigating negative attitudes towards PWD through increased training efforts and contact with PWD. While some infrastructure and government support exists for PWD, action is needed to improve education and vocational opportunities and reduce structural barriers.
Implications: Providing education to community members may decrease short-term negative perceptions and attitudes associated with disability. The most effective strategies for reducing negative attitudes towards PWD include contact and education.
Keywords: Disability Awareness Training, Community-Based Participatory Evaluation, International Service-Learning
Funding acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the Wellesley Congregational Church, Wellesley, MA for their generous support of this work.
Purpose:
1) Develop, and conduct a 90-minute DAT module for a sample of residents of Latcunga, Ecuador and
2) Evaluate the short-term impact of the training on the residents´ perception of disability.
Methods: Using a eight step community-based participatory evaluation (CBPE) process, Ecuadorian community stakeholders and faculty and students from a US based doctor of physical therapy program collaborated in the design, coordination, delivery, and evaluation of a community driven initiative (DAT).
Three types of data were collected to assess the outcomes of the DAT: Spanish version of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale (MAS) which is 30 question Likert-scale survey designed to measure attitudes towards PWD, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, and interviews with 9 DAT participants. The 90-minute DAT was provided by the DPT team to 60 members of the community. The MAS was administered pre- and post-DAT. Part of the DAT included a SWOT analysis. Nine DAT participants were recruited for 30 minute interviews to gather additional information about their perceptions of PWD after the DAT. Data were analyzed using Mann Whitney U and qualitative thematic analysis.
Results: Complete MAS data was collected from 55 participants (14 males, 41 females) ages 15-69 years. Mann Whitney U analysis on the four MAS constructs revealed significant improvement for emotion p=0.005 and cognition p=0.003. Strengths identified clustered in two categories: infrastructure and government. Weakness included lack of infrastructure, which restricted a PWD´s access to public spaces and transportation, poor attitude displayed towards PWD by family and society. Opportunities identified increasing infrastructure, vocational prospects, and mitigating negative attitudes. Threats incorporated limited infrastructure and resources to support PWD, few educational/vocational prospects, negative attitude towards PWD and perceived limitations due to disability.
Five major themes emerged from the interview data:
1) view of disability,
2) contact;
3) attitude,
4) training impact; and
5) action.
Conclusion(s): Participating in a DAT improved emotion and cognitive attitudes towards PWD in the short-term. Areas identified for the community to address include mitigating negative attitudes towards PWD through increased training efforts and contact with PWD. While some infrastructure and government support exists for PWD, action is needed to improve education and vocational opportunities and reduce structural barriers.
Implications: Providing education to community members may decrease short-term negative perceptions and attitudes associated with disability. The most effective strategies for reducing negative attitudes towards PWD include contact and education.
Keywords: Disability Awareness Training, Community-Based Participatory Evaluation, International Service-Learning
Funding acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the Wellesley Congregational Church, Wellesley, MA for their generous support of this work.
Topic: Disability & rehabilitation; Service delivery/emerging roles; Outcome measurement
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Northeastern University
Ethics committee: Institutional Review Board
Ethics number: #18-01-26
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
