Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Health Care for People with Intellectual Disabilities: A Qualitative Study

BackgroundPeople with intellectual disabilities experience serious health inequalities (e.g. they die younger than people without intellectual disabilities). Medical students' attitudes towards health care for this population warrant empirical attention because, as tomorrow's doctors, they will affect the health inequalities that people with intellectual disabilities experience. Materials and MethodsThis study investigated these attitudes by interviewing 17 medical students about medical students' attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities and thematically analysing resultant qualitative data. ResultsKey themes were identified, such as medical students' worries about working with patients with intellectual disabilities, and their wish for more medical teaching on, and direct experience with, this patient group. ConclusionsThis study suggests that medical schools need to better prepare medical students for their roles as providers of health care to people with intellectual disabilities by, for example, enhancing their attitudes towards health care for people with intellectual disabilities.