Assessing Student Attitudes towards Poverty using the Atherton Poverty Scale

As faculty, we are encouraged to use a variety of teaching strategies and methodologies to assist our students along their journeys of discovery as they learn to effectively care for those in the communities we serve.  However, all too often, we try a strategy but never measure its impact on learning or learning outcomes.  Thus the intent of this study was to determine the effectiveness of one non-traditional strategy (clinical simulation of poverty) versus more traditional means of teaching about poverty and the affect on baccalaureate students’ attitudes about poverty using the Atherton Poverty Scale.