Use of Standardized Patients (SPs) With Disabilities in an Undergraduate Nursing Program

Purpose:  People with disability (PWD) report having negative encounters with nurses due to a lack of knowledge, negative attitudes, and a lack of communication skills necessary to interact effectively with PWD. Generally undergraduate programs dedicate little to no attention on the care of PWD. This research team addressed this gap through the integration of a program of simulation across the curriculum where PWD were used as standardized patients. The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes towards people with disability and their feelings about their interactions with PWD before and after participating in a program of simulation using standardized patients with disability.

Methods:  A pretest-posttest mixed methods design was used to answer the following questions: 1) Will participating in a program of simulation including standardized people with disability (SPWD) influence students’ attitudes toward people with disability; 2) Will participating in a program of simulation including standardized people with disability influence students’ perceptions of their interactions with people with disability; and 3) What was students’ experience with standardized patients with disability. After consenting to participate, students completed a brief demographic survey, the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale, (Form A) and the Interactions with Disabled (IDP) Persons Survey in their freshman year, prior to participating in simulations with SPWD, and then again just prior to graduation after completing the program of simulation with SPWD. The posttest survey also included five open-ended questions to allow students to comment on their reaction to the simulations, the value of the experience, and their recommendations on continuation of the program of simulation with SPWD.

Results:  There was no statistically significant difference in the pretest and posttest results on the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale (Form A) and the Interactions with Disabled (IDP) Persons surveys for undergraduates who participated in the program of simulation with SPWD; however, analysis of the open-ended questions resulted in four categories of themes and subthemes, which were: cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpretive themes.

Conclusions:  While the surveys did not reflect statistically significant differences, in the open-ended questions, the students overwhelmingly indicated that they valued this experience of interacting with SPWD and recommended continuing the program. This study contributes to a gap in nursing education in improving healthcare experiences for PWD.