Nursing students' self-attributions of skill, comfort, and approach when imagining themselves caring for persons with physical impairments due to developmental disability

Fifty-two nursing students made self-attributions along a series of scales pertaining to skill level, comfort level, and interpersonal approach when imagining themselves providing care to an individual with no apparent physical disability, to a person who requires the use of a power-assisted wheelchair due to developmental disability, and to a person who requires the use of a power-assisted wheelchair and manual communication board. Factor analysis was used to reduce the self-attributional data to two dimensions. one reflecting perceived skill and comfort level, and the other reflecting the assumption of a rational versus intuitive clinical approach. Students attributed lower levels of skill and comfort to themselves, as well as a more intuitive approach, when imagining themselves caring for one who uses a power-assisted wheelchair, and to a greater extent, when imagining themselves caring for one who uses a wheelchair and a communication board, than for one without all apparent disability. Correlations of student age and number of years in nursing practice with self attributions were investigated.