Milutinović Dragana, Simin Dragana, Ćwirynkało Katarzyna, Parchomiuk Monika, Kazanowski Zdzisław, Żyta Agnieszka, Golubović Špela
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia.
Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Jun 1;13(11):1315. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13111315.
The perspective from which future healthcare professionals view intellectual disabilities affects how people with intellectual disabilities (PWIDs) are perceived and informs care policies and practices. This study aimed to assess healthcare science students' perceptions of the rights of PWIDs, the students' social distances toward PWIDs in healthcare, and the students' competence in providing care, exploring differences by study programs and demographics and examining correlations between them. The convenience sample comprised 221 medical and 120 nursing students. A general questionnaire for obtaining sociodemographic data, the scale of beliefs about the rights of PWIDs in healthcare (BS), the scale of social distance toward PWIDs (SD), and the "self-assessment of competency (CS) to provide care for PWIDs" scale were used as students' report measures. The students' scores on the BS, SD, and CS scales revealed that they generally recognized the rights of PWIDs in healthcare but expressed a moderate level of social distance and limited self-perceived competence in providing care. Medical students demonstrated slightly more progressive beliefs regarding the rights of PWIDs than nursing students (r = 0.12), while nursing students reported higher self-assessed competence levels (r = 0.19). A small gender-related difference was observed in social distance, with female students showing more favorable attitudes. Significant positive correlations were found between beliefs about the rights of PWIDs and social distance ( = 0.435; < 0.01) and between social distance and self-assessed competence ( = 0.234, < 0.01), suggesting that students who felt more competent tended to report less social distance. This study provides new data for understanding healthcare science students' perceptions and readiness to care for PWIDs in the healthcare sector in Serbia. Namely, our students had moderately positive beliefs and a moderate social distance toward PWIDs and reported low competence in providing care.
未来医疗保健专业人员看待智力残疾的视角，会影响人们对智力残疾者（PWIDs）的认知，并为护理政策和实践提供依据。本研究旨在评估医科学生对智力残疾者权利的认知、学生在医疗保健中与智力残疾者的社会距离，以及学生提供护理的能力，探讨不同学习项目和人口统计学特征之间的差异，并检验它们之间的相关性。便利样本包括221名医科学生和120名护理专业学生。使用一份用于获取社会人口统计学数据的通用问卷、医疗保健中关于智力残疾者权利的信念量表（BS）、与智力残疾者的社会距离量表（SD），以及“为智力残疾者提供护理的自我能力评估（CS）”量表作为学生的报告测量工具。学生在BS、SD和CS量表上的得分显示，他们总体上认可智力残疾者在医疗保健中的权利，但表现出中等程度的社会距离，且自我感知的护理能力有限。医科学生对智力残疾者权利的信念比护理专业学生略为进步（r = 0.12），而护理专业学生报告的自我评估能力水平更高（r = 0.19）。在社会距离方面观察到了与性别相关的细微差异，女生态度更为积极。在关于智力残疾者权利的信念与社会距离之间（ = 0.435； < 0.01）以及社会距离与自我评估能力之间（ = 0.234， < 0.01）发现了显著的正相关，这表明感觉能力更强的学生往往报告的社会距离更小。本研究为了解塞尔维亚医疗保健领域医科学生对智力残疾者的认知以及护理准备情况提供了新数据。也就是说，我们的学生对智力残疾者持有适度积极的信念，社会距离适中，并报告称提供护理的能力较低。
