Pharmacy Students’ Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities and Perceptions of Right to Self-Determination

Abstract

Objective. As the number of persons with disabilities increases, pharmacists are responsible for provid-ing optimal pharmaceutical care services to more patients in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess pharmacy students’ perceptions of the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination and to identify factors that affect pharmacists’ attitudes and perceptions. Methods. A survey of 370 pharmacy students was conducted. The revised Korean versions of the Scale of Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (SADP) and the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Form O (ATDP-O) were used to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. Pharmacy students’ percep-tion of the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination was measured in 2 subdomains devel-oped by education and ethics experts: absoluteness of right and social support. Results. Responses from 363 pharmacy students were included in the analysis. We found that the more contact students had with persons with disabilities in the past, the more positive attitudes they had toward this patient group. In addition, students’ understanding of self-determination and positive attitudes toward persons with disabilities were determined to be statistically significant factors affecting pharmacy students’ perceptions of both the absoluteness of right of persons with disabilities and the level of social support that should be given to this patient group. Conclusion. Since experience relating to people with disabilities is associated with pharmacy students’ positive perceptions about the right of persons with disabilities to self-determination, education and activities are needed in the pharmacy curriculum to ensure students have experiences with this patient group.