Richard F. Antonak

Measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assist those engaged in research dealing with attitudes towards persons with disabilities by presenting a catalogue of various attitude measurement methods. Method: A review of the methodological and psychological literatures on the measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Results: The review uncovered 10 direct methods to measure attitudes, in which the respondents are aware that they are participating in an experiment and 14 indirect methods in four categories that are not plagued by attitude-distorting influences because the respondents are not aware that their attitudes are being measured. A discussion of each method with examples is provided, followed by implications for rehabilitation practitioners, rehabilitation education and training, and rehabilitation researchers. Conclusions: The investigation of attitudes towards persons with disabilities requires innovative experimental methods and psychometrically sound instruments that are reliable, valid, and multidimensional. Without such instruments, it will not be possible to obtain conclusive answers to important research questions concerning the relationship between these attitudes and the acceptance and integration of persons with disabilities into society.

Psychometric Analysis and Revision of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming Scale

This article provides supporting evidence for the use of a revised version of the Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming (ORM) scale. Analyses of data produced by a test of the revised scale, the Opinions Relative to Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI), indicated satisfactory item characteristics and adequate reliability and homogeneity. Initial support for ORIs construct validity was demonstrated by the results of regression analyses relating ORI scores to respondent sociodemographic and experiential data and scores on the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (SADP). The ORI should prove useful to researchers evaluating the attitudes of educators toward the integration of students with disabilities into general education classrooms.

Psychosocial adaptation to amputation: the role of sociodemographic variables, disability-related factors and coping strategies.

This study examined the roles of sociodemographic variables, disability-related factors, and coping strategies as predictors of the psychosocial adaptation of 61 persons with amputations. Psychosocial adaptation was conceptualized as a multifaceted outcome criterion and was measured by seven scales from the Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory (RIDI) and the Acceptance of Disability (AD) scale. A series of multiple regression analyses indicated that both a set of sociodemographic variables and disability-related factors (age, duration of amputation, type of amputation) and a set of coping strategies (action problem-solving, emotion-focusing, behavioral/problem disengagement, cognitive disengagement) accounted, albeit differentially, for significant portions of the variance in the outcome measures of psychosocial adaptation to amputation. Of the various coping strategies, active problem-solving was negatively associated with the psychosocial reactions of depression and internalized anger (RIDI) but it was positively associated to adjustment (RIDI) and acceptance of disability (AD). Emotion-focusing and cognitive disengagement were positively associated with anxiety, depression, and externalized hostility (RIDI) and negatively associated with acceptance of disability (AD). Measurement and theoretical implications are briefly outlined.

Psychosocial adaptation to disability and its investigation among persons with multiple sclerosis

This review begins with a general discussion of the concept of psychosocial adaptation to disability, reaction phases that the adaptation process is thought to comprise, instruments to measure adaptation and the basic research questions that need to be addressed to construct a theoretical model for the process. The research literature concerning psychosocial adaptation to disability among persons with multiple sclerosis is reviewed as an illustration. Research problems identified in this review are then listed, with suggestions for future research.

Modifying Attitudes of Prospective Educators Toward Students With Disabilities and Their Integration Into Regular Classrooms

Abstract Prospective educators who completed an introductory special education course were participants in a study investigating whether attitudes toward students with disabilities and toward their integration into regular classrooms would be influenced by viewing videotapes that presented positive portrayals of persons with disabilities in regular settings and by the disability characteristics of the professor who taught the course. Results showed that those who viewed the videotapes expressed more favorable attitudes toward students with disabilities only when the course was taught by the professor with a visible physical disability. Attitudes toward the integration of students with disabilities into regular classrooms were not influenced by viewing the videotapes nor by the disability characteristics of the professor who taught the course. These results are discussed with reference to Yukers (1988) comprehensive review of the research on the effects of personal contact on attitudes toward persons with...

Patterns of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability: A cluster analytic approach

This study examined the patterns of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability in a sample of 121 individuals with various physical, sensory, psychiatric, learning, and cognitive disabilities. Indicators of psychosocial adaptation were selected from four broad domains including: (a) disability-associated psychosocial experiences that targetted reactions of anxiety, depression, anger, denial, and adjustment; (b) coping strategies adopted by the individual to mitigate stress engendered by the onset or existence of disabling conditions; (c) perceptions of control over health-related issues; and (d) perceived quality of life and overall life satisfaction. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters of respondents that suggested a varying degree of psychosocial adaptation. Accordingly, these clusters were labelled Adaptive (n = 59), Nonadaptive (n = 22), and Intermediately Adaptive (n = 39). Most notably, findings indicated that the Adaptive and Nonadaptive groups differed markedly, and consistently, across all four domains. Those in the Adaptive cluster, as compared to the Nonadaptive cluster, demonstrated lower overall psychological distress, greater reliance on problem-focused coping strategies, more frequent perceptions of personal control over health outcomes, and higher perceived quality of life and overall life satisfaction, as well as lower perceived levels of functional limitations and higher perceived levels of spiritual well-being.

Developing a measure to assess attitudes toward epilepsy in the US population

The aim of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the US publics attitudes toward people with epilepsy and to assess the initial reliability and validity of the instrument. A 46-item attitudinal instrument was developed and tested using a proportional, stratified, national, random-digit dial household telephone survey of adults aged > or = 18 (n=758). Exploratory factor analyses revealed four underlying constructs that accounted for 34.4% of the variance in the factor analysis: negative stereotypes (alpha=0.73); risk and safety concerns (alpha=0.85); work and role expectations (alpha=0.76); and personal fear and social avoidance (alpha=0.79). Knowledge was also assessed; participants with less knowledge about epilepsy had more negative attitudes. The results of these analyses provided evidence for reliability and construct validity of the instrument. Additional tests of the reliability, validity, and factor structure of the scales are necessary to refine the instrument.

A review of research on psychosocial adjustment to impairment in persons with traumatic brain injury

This review of research begins with an examination of the literature on specific psychosocial reactions that affect the rehabilitation of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI), followed by examination of the literature pertaining to injury-related variables and specific patient characteristics associated with these reactions. The next sections concern the process of psychosocial adjustment, including specific models of adjustment to TBI, methodologic concerns in building and testing a model, results of patient follow-up studies, and comparisons with adjustment to other impairments. The article then examines issues in the measurement of psychosocial adjustment, including two instruments specific to TBI, and the controversy over the use of self-report scales with TBI patients. The final section identifies significant research problems limiting the usefulness of the available information and provides suggestions for future investigations.

Development, Psychometric Analysis, and Validation of an Error-Choice Test to Measure Attitudes Toward Persons with Epilepsy

The Test Of Knowledge About Epilepsy (KAE) is a disguised indirect measure of attitudes toward persons with epilepsy consisting of 20 error-choice test items requiring respondents to select one of four incorrect alternatives. To hide the true purpose of the test, 20 items of general knowledge about epilepsy are interspersed with the error-choice items. Study # 1 involved the development of the KAE and psycho- metric analyses of prototype KAE data from a sample of 406 respondents. Results indicated satisfactory item characteristics, adequate reliability and homogeneity, and preliminary support for the measures construct validity. In Study #2, analyses of data from a revised KAE obtained from a second sample of 325 respondents substantiated both the adequacy of the instruments psychometric characteristics and its construct validity. The concurrent and discriminant validity of the KAE were supported by analyses of the associations of the KAE with a summated-rating direct measure of attitudes, a measure of social desirability responding, and measures of respondents sociodemographic and experiential attributes. The KAE may be useful as a supplement to more traditional direct measures for the investigation of human-service providers attitudes toward persons with epilepsy.

A hierarchy of reactions to disability.

The responses of 118 individuals with non-congenital physical disabilities to the 60-item Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory (RIDI) were submitted to an ordering-theoretic data analysis procedure. The RIDI provides information on eight patterns of psychosocial reactions to disability, namely: shock, anxiety, denial, depression, internalized anger, externalized hostility, acknowledgement and adjustment. The resultant nonlinear multidimensional hierarchy of contingent relationships among the eight scales was interpreted with reference to the clinical literature and to previous investigations designed to validate the existence of patterns of reactions to disability (e.g. Livneh and Antonak, 1990). It is recommended that subsequent research should compare hierarchies derived from data obtained from other, more homogeneous samples to clarify the multidimensional, nonlinear structure of the process of adaptation to disability.