Is disability really an obstacle to success? Impact of a disability simulation on motivation and performance

In Western societies, statistics on the integration of people with disabilities into the labor market consistently indicate that this category of workers faces serious discrimination. Research has evidenced negative perceptions about their occupational skills, despite positive beliefs about their personal qualities. The main purpose of this study was to show how these subjective beliefs about disability can shape performance (speed and accuracy, Studies 1, 3, and 4) and self‐reported motivation (Studies 2, 3, and 4) of able‐bodied persons simulating a disability. Participants were 281 French students without disabilities who carried out a task either with or without a simulated disability. This simulated disability constituted an actual handicap to perform the task (Studies 1 and 2) or not (Studies 3 and 4). The first three studies were focused on cognitive abilities, whereas Study 4 introduced a job interview component. Results consistently showed that participants in the simulated disability situation completed the task more accurately than controls, but took more time to do so. Higher degrees of motivation and perseverance are found for participants in the simulated disability situation, except in a job interview setting. These results are important for understanding how subjective beliefs about persons with disabilities can constitute objective barriers to social participation, and more specifically, to access to the labor market.     

Evaluating effectiveness of an infusion learning model on attitudes of physical education majors

The purpose was to evaluate the effect of an infusion curriculum model on attitudes of physical education majors toward teaching students with disabilities. 91 undergraduate students (61 men, 30 women) matriculating through the core curriculum of physical education teachers were exposed to the infusion curriculum as part of each course during one academic year. Attitudes were assessed pre- (Fall) and posttest (Spring) on the Physical Educator's Attitude Toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities III. Analysis indicated a significant positive change in attitudes toward teaching students with disabilities. Findings suggest, when exposed to issues of disability by infusion into course content, these students self-reported they would have increased confidence in teaching and an appreciation when teaching students with disabilities. An independent validation of this change would be valuable.     

The assessment of attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in the workplace

The authors conducted 2 studies to develop and test measures that assess beliefs about what constitutes a disability, affective reactions to working with individuals with disabilities, and beliefs about the reasonableness of workplace accommodations, in general and within the context of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The results of these 2 studies showed substantial differences in what was considered to be a disability. In general, more physical and sensory-motor conditions were considered disabilities than were psychological conditions. Furthermore, the conditions believed to be disabilities did not necessarily match what is covered by the ADA. Gender and experience with individuals who are disabled were also found to predict affective reactions and the reasonableness of accommodations. Implications for organizations are discussed.     

Cognitive-behavior therapy and physical disability

This article attempts to assist the cognitive understanding of children and adults with significant physical disability. A discrimination is offered between disability and handicap. Common cognitive schemes and irrational beliefs of people with physical disabilities are explored. The development of belief systems from a social learning perspective and several cognitive assumptions of parents and families of children who have physical disabilities are presented. Finally, certain self evaluative beliefs specifically related to physical disability are examined in terms of how they relate to self image and, concomitantly, behavior. The article offers information arrived upon from the author's clinical practice as well as the author's personal experience as a person with a physical disability.Dr. John D. Sweetland, received his Ph.D. in Clinical and School Psychology from Hofstra University in 1979. His doctoral dissertation involved the application of a Rational Emotive Education program specifically for severely physically disabled children. He is a licensed psychologist in New York State, a school psychologist with the Port Washington Public Schools and in private practice with offices in Merrick and Massapequa, Long Island. Dr. Sweetland had polio and is semiambulatory. He was also a gymnast and a nationally ranked competitive acrobat.     

Predictors of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors to protect people with disabilities

Disability is conceptualized using one of two major frameworks: the medical and the social model of disability. The medical model of disability describes disability as an individual issue in which the appropriate intervention is to remove the disability. The social model of disability describes disability as a social construction in which the appropriate intervention is societal change to increase accessibility. This study drew on models of disability to understand predictors of engagement in COVID-precautionary behavior prior to the vaccine to protect people with disabilities (PWD) from contracting COVID-19. Participants (n = 720) with and without disabilities (n = 77 and n = 633, respectively) completed an online questionnaire measuring disability beliefs, attitudes toward PWD, concerns about PWD contracting COVID-19, and engagement in behavior protecting PWD from contracting COVID-19. Medical model beliefs were negatively associated with behavior. In addition, negative attitudes toward PWD and low concern about PWD contracting COVID-19 fully accounted for the relationship. Social model beliefs were positively associated with behavior. In addition, positive attitudes toward PWD and greater concern about PWD contracting COVID-19 partially explained the relationship. These findings suggest that framing disability as a social construction rather than a medical issue could promote greater public health behavior to protect PWD from contracting COVID.     

Theory of Mind and Children's Trait Attributions about Average and Typically Stigmatized Peers

Previous research indicates that children hold negative beliefs about peers with foreign accents, physical disabilities, and people who are obese. The current study examined skills associated with individual differences in children's social judgements about these typically stereotyped groups. Theory of mind, memory, and cognitive inhibition were assessed in 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds. Then, children were asked to make trait attributions and behavioural predictions about story characters' willingness to help a peer. Results indicated that better theory of mind skills were related to greater positive trait attributions and behavioural predictions about typically stereotyped characters. Younger children made fewer positive behavioural predictions as compared to older children, but both age groups made positive trait attributions. Overall, memory and inhibition had little to no influence on children's responses, although the results varied by story type. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parents’ Beliefs about Children’s Emotions and Parents’ Emotion-Related Conversations with Their Children

The goals of the current study were to describe parents’ emotion socialization patterns and to assess relations between parents’ emotion-related beliefs and socialization behaviors during conversations with their children. Participants were 125 parents and their 9- and 10-year-old children from three ethnic groups in the southeastern United States. Parents reported beliefs about children’s emotions. Parents and children were videotaped playing a board game to evoke emotion-related conversations, which were then coded for parents’ labeling, teaching, and encouragement of emotion. Parents used less labeling and teaching for positive than negative emotions, and greater encouragement for positive than negative emotions. Parents with stronger beliefs about the value of positive emotions engaged in less labeling of positive emotions, less teaching of all emotions, and less encouragement of negative emotions. Parents with stronger beliefs about the value of negative emotions engaged in more encouragement of negative emotions. Parents with stronger beliefs that all emotions are dangerous engaged in less labeling of negative emotions. The results of this study have potential clinical implications in helping clients to understand the foundational structures of their behaviors and how both beliefs and behaviors are distinct, yet interrelated constructs.     

Siblings of Children with disabilities: Psychological and behavioural characteristics

The purpose of the current study was to assess the behavioural and psychological characteristics of siblings of children with disabilities and the perceptions of parents and children regarding sibling relationships. Participants included 32 children between 6 and 13 years of age, one-half with a younger sibling with a disability and one-half with a younger sibling without a disability. Analyses revealed a difference in children's perceptions of maternal partiality, with siblings of children with disabilities perceiving their mothers to be more partial to their siblings than did siblings of children without disabilities. Further, parents of children with disabilities indicated a greater difference in status/power between their child and his/her younger sibling than did parents of children without disabilities. No significant differences were found between groups on measures of behaviour problems, social competence, or self-esteem, supporting other research that has failed to find negative outcomes for siblings of children with disabilities. The implications of these results for parents and professionals are discussed.     

A job-seeking self-efficacy scale for people with physical disabilities: preliminary development and psychometric testing

People with disabilities are at an increased risk of unemployment. The role of interventions aiming to enhance the employment prospects of people with disabilities is receiving increased attention. However, evaluation is hampered by the paucity of measures specific to the needs of the target population. The purpose of the present study was to develop and conduct preliminary testing of the psychometric properties of a job-seeking self-efficacy (JSS) scale that reflected the experiences of people with physical disabilities. Job-seeking self-efficacy was defined as perceived ability to perform the skills involved in seeking employment that are salient to people with disabilities. Scale development and testing involved four studies and resulted in the 12-item JSS scale and six-item managing disability at interview (MDI) component, both of which were unidimensional and had high internal consistency. In addition, there was evidence of construct and concurrent validity. Greater jobseeking self-efficacy and perceived ability to manage disability at interview were associated with more positive psychological well-being. Only the MDI component was associated with physical functioning: lower perceived ability to manage disability at interview was associated with greater impairment of physical functioning. The pattern of associations supported the rationale for a separate component reflecting the need to resolve practical issues linked to access and availability of facilities before participation in the interview procedure per se .     

Relationship between Disabilities and Adoption Outcomes in African American Children

Although many children adopted from the public child welfare system have special needs, little is known about the experiences of African American adopted children with disabilities and their families. The purpose of this study is to explore different categories of disabilities, including chronic health issues; emotional, mental, or behavioral (EMB) disorders; and intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs) on adoption outcomes in a sample of African American children. Data were from the Post-Permanency Round II Survey collected in 2008. A random sample of 412 adoptive parents or legal guardians self-reported their children’s disability diagnoses and family caregiving experiences. Hierarchical regression modelling was used to investigate the relationship between child disability and child and parental outcomes. Results indicated that chronic health issues (β?=?.10, p?<?.05), EMB disorders (β?=?.16, p?<?.01), and IDDs (β?=?.12, p?<?.05) were positively associated with parental burden. In addition, asthma (β?=?.10, p?<?.05), from the larger physical health issue category, was also associated with parental burden. However, none of the disability categories was significantly related with caregiver commitment or adoption dissolution. Future research should disentangle the definitions of special needs or disabilities.     

Negative and Positive Disability-related Events and Adjustment of Parents with Acquired Physical Disabilities and of their Adolescent Children

This study merged stress-and-coping research with the social model of disability to describe the most frequently experienced disability-related events experienced by 19 parents with acquired physical disabilities and their adolescent children, and examined the relations between these events, severity of disability, and psychological adjustment. Parents and adolescents reported many more positive than negative disability-related events, although parents reported significantly more negative events than did their children. Frequency of parents’ experienced negative disability-related events correlated significantly with self-reported anxiety, depression, and weaker feelings of parental self-efficacy, with their reports of adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems, and with adolescents’ self-reports of depression, anxiety, and lower self-esteem. Frequency of adolescents’ negative disability-related events correlated significantly with self-reported depression and lower self-esteem, and approached significance with self-reported anxiety. There were no significant associations between parents’ positive events and self-reported or adolescent adjustment. Total frequency of adolescents’ positive events correlated significantly with less parent-reported anxiety. There were several significant associations between parental rating of severity of disability and number of physical limitations with their and their children’s adjustment. Implications for understanding the daily effects of parental physical disability on parents and their adolescent children are discussed, and recommendations are suggested for prevention interventions.     

Children's Understanding of the Causal Origins of Disability

This study explores children's understanding of the causal origins of disabilities. Using a forced-choice explanation task, children's understanding of social-psychological, physical, and biological causal explanations of disabilities was considered. We presented 79 children (26 4- to 5-year-olds, 26 6- to 7-year-olds, and 27 10- to 11-year-olds) with 4 vignettes describing a child with a particular disability (physical disability, blindness, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Participants rated their agreement with a variety of causal explanations of disability. Results showed significant age, disability, and causal explanation differences in children's causal understandings of disability. Children of all ages showed a preference for physical and biological causes of disability and rejected social-psychological causal explanations. These findings highlight the usefulness of employing a forced-choice methodology to examine young children's concepts of the causal origins of disabilities.     

Stigma of mental and physical illness and the use of mobile technology

Research has shown the stigma attached to mental disabilities, yet little research has directly compared the experiences of people with physical disabilities and those with mental disabilities. Not only are both conditions likely perceived as stigmatizing, but the pervasive use of mobile technology may be one means by which people with disabilities can manage and understand their disability. Four hundred and eighty-seven individuals with physical and/or psychological disabilities completed a survey examining whether they would be willing to use mobile technology to manage their disability and how stigmatizing they perceived their disability to be. Willingness to use mobile technology was related to the age of the sample as well as the type of disability. Individuals with psychological disabilities were more likely to use certain forms of mobile technology relative to those with physical disabilities. Observed differences between physical and psychological disabilities are discussed in terms of the symbolic interaction stigma model.     

The effect of physical fitness training on reaction time in youth with intellectual disabilities

The purpose of this study was to assess whether reaction time in persons with intellectual disabilities can be improved with an exercise program. 50 children and adolescents (M age = 14.7 yr., SD = 1.4, range = 11-18) with mild intellectual disability without Downs syndrome were randomly divided into control (20 boys, 5 girls) and experimental (19 boys, 6 girls) groups. The experimental group participated in a structured physical fitness program for 12 weeks. Reaction time was assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. Significant improvements in reaction time were observed in the exercise group but not for the control group. Results indicated that reaction time can be improved with an exercise program in youth with intellectual disability.     

Children’s Acceptance of Others with Disability: The Influence of a Disability-Simulation Program

Elementary school is a transitional and impressionable period for any child. In inclusive classroom settings, children with disabilities may experience the challenges of acceptance and integration into peer relationships. The experience of children with disabilities in such classrooms can be positive if their classmates are accepting and open. One way to encourage these attitudes is by increasing awareness through disability-simulation. This study evaluates an existing school program, whose goal is to increase acceptance of others with disability. We surveyed students to assess the influence of the program. An adapted acceptance scale was distributed to students before and after participation in the program. Our hypothesis was that student acceptance would increase after participating in the program. Additionally, we hypothesized that physical, visual, and auditory disabilities would be easier for students to understand, making acceptance scores for these disabilities higher than those for a learning disability. We report changes in acceptance using group means. Our results reveal that post-survey responses showed higher acceptance than pre-survey responses, especially for auditory disabilities. Other significant findings include differences in attitudes between the two schools and differences based on prior experience with someone with a disability. By evaluating the effectiveness of this type of program (whose efficacy has been controversial in the literature), this study can provide teachers, administrators, genetic counselors, and parents with a better idea of how to address children’s attitudes towards peers. In our study, the effectiveness of promoting understanding through disability-simulation has proven its worth to improve children’s acceptance.     

残疾儿童家长亲职压力的特点及其与生活质量的关系:社会支持的中介作用

本研究旨在考查残疾儿童家长亲职压力的特点, 并探讨亲职压力、社会支持对生活质量的影响。使用《亲职压力指标简表》、《社会支持评定量表》和《世界卫生组织生活质量测定简表》(中文版)对孤独症、智力残疾、听力残疾、视力残疾以及脑瘫5种残疾类型儿童的369名家长进行问卷调查。结果发现:(1)残疾儿童家长亲职压力及其各维度在不同残疾儿童类型中差异显著, 孤独症儿童家长在总分及各维度中均最高, 听力残疾儿童家长均最低;(2)亲职压力各维度与社会支持各维度以及生活质量各维度均呈显著负相关, 社会支持各维度与生活质量各维度之间均呈显著正相关;(3)亲职压力与生活质量的典型相关分析表明两者的整体相关显著;(4)社会支持在亲职压力和生活质量间起部分中介作用。     

Adjustment to chronic low back pain--the relative influence of fear-avoidance beliefs, catastrophizing, and appraisals of control

The present study investigated the relative extent to which patients' adjustment to chronic low back pain (CLBP) was influenced by their fear-avoidance beliefs, their tendency to catastrophize, and their appraisals of control. Eighty-three CLBP patients completed a series of self-report measures before participating in a physical therapist-led intervention. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that patients' perceptions of their ability to decrease pain explained a small, but statistically significant, proportion of the variance in pain intensity. In addition, patients' levels of catastrophizing, as well as their fear-avoidance beliefs about both work and physical activity, were independently associated with levels of disability. Interestingly, however, when exploring the relative predictive utility of these three psychological factors, it became evident that fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity (FABs-PA) were the only significant predictor of patients' disability. Specifically, those patients who exhibited higher levels of FABs-PA tended to report greater levels of disability, even after adjusting for age, sex and pain intensity.     

Caregivers’ Level of Trust in Their Children's Health Care Providers

Trust in healthcare providers is associated with clinical outcomes among adult patients. Children with disabilities have complex health needs that place stress on caregivers. Consequently, they are increasingly likely to rely on their children's health care providers to ensure children's health care needs are met. However, no studies have explored factors affecting caregivers’ trust in their children's providers. We assessed caregivers’ trust in their children's providers and identified predictive factors of trust. The results indicate that children's disability condition, functional status, age, the providers’ specialty, and the type of health care plan are significant predicators of caregiver's trust. Specifically, caregivers of children with emotional/behavioral disabilities and children with poor physical or emotional/behavioral functioning reported less trust in their children's providers compared to caregivers of children without physical disabilities or no disability and those having higher levels of physical or emotional/behavioral functioning. In addition, caregivers of younger children had more trust compared to caregivers of older children. Caregivers of children enrolled in a managed care plan for physical health care reported less trust compared to caregivers of children in other organizational arrangements. Finally, caregivers reported more trust in physical health providers compared to mental health providers.     

The relationship between the severity and duration of physical disability and body esteem

The current study investigated the association between the severity and duration of physical disability and body esteem. A total of 748 participants (367 males, 381 females) who had a physical disability and 448 participants (171 males, 277 females) who were able-bodied participated in the study. The results demonstrated that people with more severe physical disability experienced lower levels of body esteem than people with milder physical disabilities and able-bodied people. The duration of physical disability was not related to levels of body esteem. Except for the face, people with physical disabilities devalued all aspects of their body more than able-bodied people. For males with physical disability, the unique predictors of high body esteem were decreased need for assistance, higher self-esteem, lower depression and higher sexual esteem; for females with physical disability, the unique predictors were higher self-esteem and higher sexual esteem. Overall, the study suggested that people with physical disability, particularly those with severe disabilities, may be particularly vulnerable to problems associated with their body esteem.     

Personal and Environmental Factors Predict Participation of Children With and Without Mild Developmental Disabilities

Enhancing participation in age-related activities is a key goal in the education and rehabilitation of children with diverse disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore a multidimensional and ecological model of participation for young children. Seventy eight children with mild developmental disabilities (MDD, such as motor and visual-motor difficulties), and 110 children without disabilities, between the ages 4 and 6 years old, participated in the study together with their parents. Data were collected using standardized assessments for child capacities and newly developed questionnaires for child participation and for human and physical environmental factors. Associations were found between personal and environmental factors and the participation dimensions amongst young children, thus supporting the validity of the proposed model of participation. Moreover, the study results outline different pathways for the participation of children with and without MDD. Child factors (e.g. process skills) were found to be crucial predictors of participation particularly for children with MDD, whereas human environmental factor (e.g. maternal self-efficacy beliefs) was associated with higher participation scores especially for children without disabilities. These findings may facilitate the development of effective intervention programs which focus on environmental factors as well as on child factors.