Clinical psychologists are often involved in attempts to change attitudes towards
people with intellectual disabilities. Sometimes this is with groups of carers and
staff and sometimes with students (trainees or undergraduates). This study
examined whether exposure to publicly available videos can change students’
attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities (ID), and whether the
content of videos (positive or negative) was associated with differential attitude
change. Overall, 153 psychology undergraduates participated in the study, with
102 watching a negative content video (Winterbourne View) and 51 watching a
positive content video. A quasi-experimental design compared two equal-sized
groups matched on initial levels of attitudes (N=29 in each group). Results
indicated that the content of video was associated with a different course of
change: the positive video related to improvement in empowerment, similarity,
proximal living attitudes, while the negative was associated with a worsening in
attitudes. These findings are directly relevant to the training environments
familiar to clinical psychologists. Videos can be useful means of changing
attitudes where direct contact with people with ID is not possible. To achieve
positive change in attitudes, videos need to bring out the strengths of people
with ID by emphasising their achievements
