163 - Integration of a Disability Awareness Curriculum Improves Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward People with Disabilities

Objectives: Persons with disabilities (PWD) make up the largest minority group requiring medical services and often require tailored and comprehensive care. Many physicians, however, report feeling unprepared in caring for PWD, likely stemming in part from a lack of structured disability curriculum in undergraduate medical education (UME). The objective of this study was to gauge the effectiveness of a multifaceted disability awareness curriculum for UME using a mixed methods approach.

Design: Second year medical students took part in this novel curriculum, which included lectures on disability and disability etiquette, interprofessional sessions with physical therapy students (DPT) to learn about physical and developmental disabilities with real patients, experiential learning at local organizations dedicated to disability programming, and debriefing with physiatrists. The effectiveness of the curriculum was measured through pre- and post-surveys, including the Attitudes and Perspectives Towards Persons with Disabilities (APPD) scale and Multidimensional Attitude Scale towards Persons with Disabilities (MAS), course evaluations, and focus groups.

Results: The mean scores from the APPD (2.11 ± 0.43 pre-score vs. 1.7 ± 0.39 post-score) and MAS (2.45 ± 0.43 pre-score vs. 2.25 ± 0.55 post-score) – with lower numbers representing more favorable attitudes – demonstrated an overall improved attitude of medical students towards PWD. In contrast to MD students, DPT students have a structured disability curriculum in their programs, and of note, medical students’ post survey attitudes were comparable to those of the DPT students. Qualitative analysis from focus groups highlighted four major themes: education, comfort level, impact on future practice, and disability differences.

Conclusions: Through matching core competencies, encouraging interprofessional learning, and using PWD as educators, this novel curriculum has potential as a framework for delivering structured disability education to medical students to prepare future physicians to effectively provide care for the unique needs of this population.