Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability: A Comparison Between Nursing and Education Students

Attitudes of health and education professionals towards individuals with disabilities critically influence service quality and inclusion. Few studies have compared these attitudes during professional training.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 425 Spanish university students (48.6% nursing; 51.4% education; 76.5% female; M_age = 20.33), using the Attitudes Towards Persons With Disabilities Scale (EAPD) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis tested the EAPD's three-factor structure; measurement invariance and latent mean comparisons were analysed using structural equation modelling.

EAPD demonstrated good psychometric properties and invariance across groups. Education students reported significantly more positive attitudes than nursing students on social relations (d ≈0.40), normalisation (d ≈0.41) and intervention programmes (d ≈0.51). Female gender, prior contact and progressive ideology were also associated with more positive attitudes.

Findings highlight attitudinal differences by field of study and underscore the need for targeted educational interventions, particularly, in healthcare programmes.