Does a one-week disability awareness training influence medical students attitudes? A French mixed-methods study

Disability is experienced by approximately 1.3 billion individuals worldwide. Therefore, people with disabilities (PWD) are part of every physician's patient base, regardless of specialty. Specific educational programs are needed, as medical students and physicians still report discomfort in taking histories, performing clinical examinations and making differential diagnoses when dealing with PWD.

We hypothesized that participation in a one-week disability awareness training, including theoretical sessions, practical workshops with PWD, and 3-day immersive training courses, would significantly improve the quantitative and qualitative outcomes of medical students toward PWD.

We conducted a monocentric prospective mixed-methods study targeting 3rd year medical students, using quantitative measurements through repeated synchronous surveys, evaluating disability attitudes in health care (DAHC) scores and performed qualitative explorations through individual semidirected interviews, evaluating students' feelings and attitudes toward PWD.

A total of 218 students (mean age: 21.1 ± 1.4 years) were included in the study. While 60 % of the participants reported no prior working experience with PWD, there was a significant improvement in paired-DAHC scores 3 months after the training (+1.32, p = 0.003). Improvements were predominantly observed in comfort levels during interaction and in discriminatory attitudes. This practical experience was positively reported in the semidirected interviews, in which a facilitated transition from unfamiliarity to informed empathy and knowledge was reported.

The implementation of disability awareness trainings in compulsory medical curricula should be prioritized to improve future physician's skills and attitudes when caring for PWD.