Caucasion allied health students' attitudes towards African Americans: implications for instruction and research

In order to determine Caucasian allied health student racial attitudes towards the African American population, students and faculty of a Southern school of allied health professions were surveyed using the Racial Argument Scale (RAS). A one way ANOVA found a significant difference between allied health programs, p = .008, and post hoc testing found the Occupational Therapy Program's scores to be significantly lower (less negative towards Blacks) than the Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Program's scores (p = .008 and p = .041 respectively). Student scores overall were significantly higher than faculty scores on the RAS (p = .014). The Speech-Language Pathology, Physician Assistant, and Physical Therapy Programs' scores as well the overall allied health student scores were found to be significantly higher than the population mean, thus indicating a higher negativity towards African Americans. The overall results of this study indicate that negative racial bias may be a serious problem in some allied health programs. Future instruction in cultural competency in allied health programs should address racial bias specifically, taking into account cognitive-perceptual errors that may perpetuate negative racial attitudes.