The Effect of Disability Awareness Improvement Program of University Students on Reducing Prejudices and Increasing Positive Attitude toward People with Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of disability awareness improvement program of university students on reducing prejudice and increasing positive attitudes for the people with disabilities. 20 students who participated in the educational program for the improvement of disability awareness were selected in experiment group and 19 students who have not taken program were selected in control group. First, according to the results of the pre-test and post-test comparison on the effectiveness of the educational program for the improvement of disability awareness, there was no significant difference in the prejudice and positive attitude for the people with disabilities between pre and post-test in control group. However, after 15 weeks of participating in the educational program for the improvement of disability awareness, there was a significant difference in prejudice and attitude between the pre and post-test in experiment group. Second, before program, there was not significant difference in prejudice and positive attitude for the people with disabilities in the comparisons between the control and experiment group. However, after 15 weeks of educational program for the improvement of disability awareness, there was significant difference in prejudice and positive attitude between the control and experiment group (p<0.001). It is required to provide disability awareness improvement program for university students to reduce prejudices and increase positive attitude for the people with disabilities.