Date of Award

12-20-2024

Date Published

January 2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching and Curriculum

Advisor(s)

Joseph Shedd

Keywords

ableism;care/cure dichotomy;disability studies;healthcare disparities;nursing education

Subject Categories

Disability Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

This dissertation critically examines the integration of disability studies into nursing education and its potential to address healthcare disparities faced by people with disabilities (PWDs). Despite the increasing visibility of disability rights and advocacy, nursing education continues to implicitly define disability as a deficit, focusing on PWD’s limitations rather than capabilities. This research highlights the pressing need for a paradigm shift toward incorporating disability studies frameworks, which emphasize disability as a cultural identity and social construct, into nursing curricula to better prepare nurses for equitable, patient-centered care. This study employs two research methods: autoethnography and survey. The autoethnography, rooted in my personal experiences as both a nurse and a person with a disability, serves as the foundation of this research. Through narratives that delve into themes such as disability identity, societal prejudices, limitations, denial, cognitive disability, and acceptance, I critically reflect on how my own journey with disability highlights gaps in nursing education and practice. These personal stories, drawn from real-world encounters with patients and my own disability, provide a lens to examine the broader implications of how disability is understood and addressed in healthcare. To expand on this foundation and assess whether my experiences reflect systemic issues or are isolated incidents, I conducted a survey to explore the attitudes and knowledge of nurses and nursing students regarding people with disabilities (PWDs). Together, these methods offer a comprehensive exploration of the topic. The survey data highlights two significant findings. Firstly, the respondents demonstrated a dual perspective on disability, showing support for both the medical model, which views disability as a condition necessitating treatment, and the social model, which emphasizes societal barriers as the primary cause of disability. This nuanced understanding suggests an integration of both medical and social viewpoints. Secondly, most respondents indicated that their nursing education programs offered limited coverage of disability-related content, pointing to a systemic gap in how nurses are trained to care for PWDs. The insufficient focus on disability in nursing education is concerning as it perpetuates healthcare disparities and fails to equip nurses with the tools needed to provide inclusive, equitable care to PWDs. The study confirms the need for integrating disability studies into nursing education, suggesting that without this integration, nursing education will continue to perpetuate healthcare disparities, leaving PWDs underserved and marginalized.

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Open Access

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