The effect of disability awareness educational program of university students in the department of physical therapy on reducing prejudices against people with disabilities and increasing positive attitudes toward people with disabilities

[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of disability awareness educational program of university students in the department of physical therapy on reducing prejudice against people with disabilities and increasing positive attitudes toward people with disabilities. [Participants and Methods] Students who participated in the disability awareness educational program were selected as experiment group and 15 students who did not take program were selected as control group. [Results] First, in the comparisons between the control and experimental group, there was no difference in the overall prejudice on people with disabilities and positive attitudes toward people with disabilities before the disability awareness educational program. However, there was a significant difference in the overall prejudice and positive attitudes between two groups after the disability awareness educational program. Second, in the comparisons between pretest and posttest, there was no significant difference in the overall prejudice on people with disabilities in control group. However, in the comparisons between pretest and posttest, there was a significant difference in the overall prejudice in experimental group. [Conclusion] It is necessary to provide disability awareness educational program for the university students in the department of physical therapy to reduce the overall prejudices against people with disabilities and increase positive toward people with disabilities.