Validation with nursing students of the Greek version of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale (MAS) towards people with disabilities

OBJECTIVE To validate the Greek version of the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale (MAS) towards people with disabilities in nursing students. METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted during October 2018. After forward-backward translation of the MAS into Greek, the scale was completed by 179 nursing students, psychometrically tested, and validated. The nursing students also completed the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons Scale (AT-DPS) for comparison. RESULTS Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis both yielded a four-factor scale for the Greek translation. Construct validity was supported by the three subscales, Affect, Cognition and Behavior, but not the Calm subscale, indicating positive correlation with ATDPS (r=0.34, 0.34 and 0.20, respectively for Affect, Cognition, and Behavior). Cronbach's a coefficient for the MAS subscales was 0.90 for Affect, 0.92 for Cognition, 0.83 for Behavior and 0.88 for Calm. Test-retest reliability analysis in a subgroup of 45 students revealed good stability after a two-week interval. The MAS did not detect differences in attitudes towards people with disabilities between students who had enrolled in an elective disability studies course and those who had not taken this course. CONCLUSIONS The Greek version of the MAS is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be usefully implemented in the educational course to identify the attitudes of nursing students towards people with disabilities.