4 research outputs found
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Teaching About Disability in Psychology: An Analysis of Disability Curricula in U.S. Undergraduate Psychology Programs
Historically, Psychology education about disability focused narrowly on psychiatric and cognitive disabilities. Furthermore, disability tends to be viewed from the medical model, rather than the social model endorsed by disability scholars, which describes disability as primarily socially constructed. Course offerings for the Psychology departments of 98 top-ranked undergraduate programs in the U.S. were content-analyzed to identify the types of disabilities discussed and the extent to which they utilized a medical or social model. Courses examining psychiatric disabilities were offered at all departments. However, categories such as physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities were covered in fewer than 20% of departments. Course descriptions contained significantly more medical than social model content. Results suggest many types of disabilities are underrepresented in Psychology programs and the medical model continues to prevail.Keywords: medical model of disability, social model of disability, disability, undergraduate psychology curricul
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Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day 2016 at Oregon State University
Moebius Syndrome is a congenital neurological disorder that results in weakness or paralysis of the sixth and seventh cranial nerves, resulting in inability to form facial expression. The current study examined the relationship between orientation of describing Moebius Syndrome and the participant ratings of pictures of individuals with Moebius Syndrome of friendliness and capability. The medical model is a description of Moebius Syndrome focusing on symptoms and treatment. The social model is a description focusing on how Moebius affects patient’s lives and social relationships. Participants were then asked to rate pictures of people with Moebius Syndrome in terms of friendliness and capability on a five-point scale. It was hypothesized that participants chosen to participate in the social model would rate the pictures higher on both dimensions than participants in the medical model. Participants were invited to create a sign with what others should know about Moebius Syndrome. These signs were then analyzed for content using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Signs were separated into medical and social model and compared across five categories. It was hypothesized that signs created after the social model would reflect a higher percentage of social words, whereas medical signs would reflect more medical terms.
It was found that there was no significant difference between social and medical model groups in how participants rated pictures in terms of both variables. Participants were asked to rate their knowledge of Moebius Syndrome before and after the intervention on a five-point scale. It was found that knowledge about the condition significantly increased during the course of the intervention. Signs created after partaking in the social model of disability scored significantly higher in the “social” category. Signs created after hearing the medical model of disability resulted in significantly higher in the “medical” and “body” categories. Regardless of model received, participants felt social understanding was significantly more important than finding treatments and cures.
The results of this study indicate that informing participants of Moebius Syndrome results in an increase of knowledge. This would indicate that the intervention was successful, regardless of the insignificance between groups on progression of knowledge. Overall, knowledge intervention in a population of college students, faculty and community members results in increased knowledge and positive ratings of capability and friendliness
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Attitudes Toward Disability: The Relationship Between Attitudes Toward Disability and Frequency of Interaction with People with Disabilities (PWD)
The social and medical models of disability are sets of underlying assumptions explaining people's beliefs about the causes and implications of disability. The medical model is the predominant model in the United States that is associated with the belief that disability is an undesirable status that needs to be cured (Darling & Heckert, 2010). This model focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and curative efforts related to disability. The social model is preferred by disability activists and researchers which focuses on society’s involvement in disability, such as stigmatization, discrimination and the interpersonal barriers that are features of one’s disability. The social model suggests that society disables individuals and is the cause of impairment (Olkin, 2003). Allport’s contact hypothesis states that increased contact with people with disabilities (PWD) will reduce prejudice through relationship building and social connection (Allport, 1954). Pettigrew’s Intergroup Contact Theory, similar to Allport’s contact hypothesis, argues that essential conditions must be met in order to reduce feelings of prejudice. These conditions are: learning about the outgroup, changing behavior, generating affective ties, and ingroup reappraisal (Pettigrew, 1998). Based on these theories, increased interaction with PWD should result in more favorable attitudes about PWD. We further propose that contact may serve to alter disability model orientation, which in turn may affect attitudes. This is the first large-scale study that examines how disability models influence the relationship between contact and attitudes toward PWD. It was hypothesized that participants with more frequent interactions with PWD would have more favorable attitudes towards disability. This would be mediated by models of disability. Participants of the study were undergraduate students enrolled in a required university course, with a majority of them being in their first year. The survey consisted of the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons scale, a single item assessing frequency of contact with PWD, and the Darling (2013) social and medical model scales, and was distributed to a total of 1,506 students. Supporting our hypothesis, the medical and social models partially mediated the relationship between contact and attitudes towards disability. Medical model compared to social model was more strongly associated with contact and attitudes. This suggests that contact with PWD can help decrease medical model beliefs in general, but is less effective at promoting social model beliefs. Implications of this study might suggest that more frequent contact with PWD on college campuses could be possible by hiring more educators who disclose their disability or accommodate to more people with disabilities as students. As for future directions of this study, an expansion beyond college students could provide insight into different demographics and their attitudes toward disability, and could also reveal the potential influence of cohort effects. Future studies may also want to further assess to what degree attitudes and perceptions about PWD change when certain conditions are met, such as those mentioned in Pettigrew’s Intergroup Contact Theory