Nurses’ attitudes and emotions toward caring for adults with intellectual disability: An international replication study

Purpose: Negative nurse attitudes and emotions toward caring for adults with intellectual disability have been implicated as a contributing factor to the cascade of health disparities faced by this population. The purpose of this study was to identify influencing factors of nurses’ attitudes and emotions toward caring for adults with intellectual disability that transcend national borders and differing systems of care. Methods: This cross-sectional correlational predictive replication study used an online electronic survey with a snowball sample of 115 Australian nurses, from March to August 2020. Results: Nurses’ attitudes toward adults with intellectual disability were significantly less positive compared to adults without intellectual disability, and nurses’ beliefs about the quality of life of adults with intellectual disability predicted nurses’ attitudes, replicating findings of the USA study. The frequency of both the professional and personal contact was associated with positive and negative emotions in both countries, however no consistent predictive pattern was evident. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that worldwide, there is room for improvement in nurses’ attitudes and emotions toward this underserved group. Future research should investigate the role of nurses’ beliefs about quality of life of adults with intellectual disability for potential interventions to improve nurses’ attitudes toward care. Clinical relevance: Assisting nurses to identify misconceptions about the quality of life of adults with intellectual disability is suggested as an intervention to improve nurses’ attitudes toward caring for adults with intellectual disability.