Document Type
Honors Thesis
Data Type
survey data
Abstract
Although one in four Americans experience disability in their lifetimes, the majority of nurses and other healthcare professionals feel ill-prepared to care for patients with disabilities (PWD). Factors such as inaccessible healthcare facilities, insufficient clinical knowledge, and biases about the quality of life of PWD contribute to mounting health inequities between PWD and non-disabled people. To further understand how education can impact nursing students’ comfortability and confidence toward caring for PWD, a 30-minute disability studies lesson was implemented for junior-level nursing students. 51 students who attended the lecture provided anonymous pre- and post-lecture surveys, which contained Likert scale and free response questions gauging comfortability and confidence toward caring for PWD. Quantitative results revealed statistically significant increases across all comfortability items, though qualitative analysis suggested that students exhibited mixed confidence levels associated with a lack of prior disability education. Future research should implement longitudinal, comprehensive disability education initiatives to understand how students retain competencies and confidence levels over time.
Disciplines
Disability Studies | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Interprofessional Education | Medical Humanities | Other Nursing | Public Health and Community Nursing
Publication Date
12-2025
Language
English
Faculty Mentor of Honors Project
Sarah Rose, Michael Holmes
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Karim, Serena, "Bridging Disability Studies and Nursing Education: A Curricular Intervention" (2025). 2025 Fall Honors Capstones Projects-Archive. 33.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_fall2025/33
Included in
Disability Studies Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Interprofessional Education Commons, Medical Humanities Commons, Other Nursing Commons, Public Health and Community Nursing Commons
Comments
I would like to extend my sincere gratitudes to my capstone advisors, Dr. Sarah Rose and Michael Holmes, who empowered me to blend my interests in nursing, disability studies, and patient advocacy.
I would also like to thank Mikila Salazar and Emily Brooks for their invaluable input and support through the design process. Thank you to Rubab Shazad and the Day Family Research Lab for helping with countless iterations of data analysis.
Last, but certainly not least, I owe my thanks to Dr. Makenzie Whitener, whose consistent guidance and generosity was instrumental in making this project a reality and getting it toward the finish line.