Professional and personal attitude of medical students towards disabled persons

Objective: To observe the response of the final year physiotherapy students in Rawalpindi and Islamabad regarding their attitudes towards disabled persons. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted, using purposive sampling among the students of final year students in different colleges of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Out of 82 students included in the study, 62 were females and 20 male; age ranged from 20 to 25 (mean 22.5) years. All were almost four weeks from graduation. ATDP Scale (A and B) forms were filled by participants. Results: Mean personal score ATDP-A was 15.45 +/- 10.29. Analysis of professional ATDP-B scores revealed a mean of 8.15 +/- 12.21 (p=0.0001). Conclusion: It was, therefore, concluded that the mean personal ATDP-A score did differ significantly from the mean professional ATDP-B score showing that students of final year medical students had a more positive personal attitude towards disability as compared to it professionally.