Date of Award

1-1-1983

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if members of the business community would experience improvement in attitude and behavior toward disabled persons following participation in an awareness seminar. An attempt was made to determine if attitude change would persist for six months after the seminar. In addition, an attempt was made to determine if behaviors toward disabled people also underwent a significant change following the seminar.The one-day seminar consisted of five main components: (1) viewing a firm about hiring the handicapped; (2) participating in a three-hour disability simulation experience; (3) participating in a small group discussion; (4) interacting with a panel of disabled persons; and (5) listening to employers describe their experiences with disabled workers.From 200 randomly selected businesses that were invited to participate in the seminar, 40 persons volunteered for the study. A delayed-treatment control group design was utilized with attitude and behavioral measurements occurring at pretest, posttest, retrospective pretest, and at six months following the seminar.The results indicated that attitude scores were higher at posttest and follow-up than they had been at pretest. When traditional pretest scores were used in the comparisons, the amount of gain on the attitude scale was not significant at the .05 level. When retrospective pretest scores were used in the comparisons, however, the improvements were significant. Of ten behaviors reported at follow-up, seven were significantly improved over preseminar behavior.In summary, a one-day seminar was designed to appeal to persons in the business community. The purpose of the seminar was to improve attitudes and behavior toward disabled persons. The experience provided information about disabled persons, as well as contact with the disabled. While attitude and behavioral scores did become more positive, the differences were not always significant.

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