Determination of Student Midwives' and Nurses' Perceptions of Disabled Individuals and Factors Affecting Their Perceptions: A Descriptive Study

Aim:This study was conducted to determine the perceptions of midwifery and nursing students towards disabled individuals and the factor saffecting them.Materials and Methods: The data of the descriptive study were collected between October and November 2023. The population of the study consisted of 1240 midwifery and nursing students studying at Çukurova University Faculty of Health Sciences. The sample size of the study was calculated with G*Power and 351 students were included in the study. The data of the study were collected with personal in formation form and Perception Scale for Individuals with Disabilities. The data were analysed by number, mean, percentage distributions, t test in independent groups, one way anova. Results:The meanage of the participants was found to be 20.91±2.50. The mean total score of the Perception Scale for Individual swith Disabilities was found to be 67.27±9.77, the mean score of the Adoption Subdimension was 26.94±3.59, the mean score of the Awareness Subdimension was 17.26±4.34, the Individual Support Subdimension was 13.09±2.66, and the Social Environment Subdimension was 9.96±2.02. In addition, it was determined that there was a significant difference between the total scores of the Perception Scale for Individuals with Disabilities and the students' department, class, willingly choosing the department, economicstatus, having a disabled person in the family and in teracting/communicating with a disabled person (p