Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Scale of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons

Abstract

The Scale of Attitudes toward Disabled Persons (SADP) was developed as a contemporary, brief, easy to administer and score, and psychometrically sound instrument to provide a valid, reliable, and multidimensional measure of attitudes toward disabled persons as a group. The 24 item SADP provides a total score as well as three factorially derived subscale scores. Data are presented which indicate satisfactory item characteristics, reliability, and internal consistency for the total scale and subscales. Detailed analyses revealed the subscales to be homogeneous, specific, and reasonably independent. The results of several correlation analyses support the construct validity of the SADP, while a criterion-related validity coefficient of .54 was obtained with a reduced version of the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (Amp) scale Form-O. Factorial congruence of the two scales support the use of the SADP as a measure of the . primary dimensions of attitude toward disabled persons, and for the investigation of questions concerning their formation, structure, correlates, and modification.