Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale (ATIDS)

Abstract

The Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale (EADI) is a concise 10-item psychometric instrument developed to measure perceptions and behavioral intentions related to intellectual disability within the professional environment. This tool serves to identify underlying cognitive and emotional patterns that may influence interactions and overall performance when individuals with intellectual disabilities are integrated into the labor force.

The scale’s construction was methodologically rigorous, involving a comprehensive literature review, focus groups, and expert content validation performed by 15 specialists. Subsequent psychometric evaluations, including advanced Factor Analysis, confirmed a robust, two-factor structure: Perception and Social Distance. The EADI demonstrated strong evidence of both reliability and validity, making it a valuable tool for workplace attitude assessment.

Keywords

Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability, EADI, Intellectual Disability, Perception, Social Distance, Workplace Setting, Laborers, Psychometrics.

Authors

Carbajal, Alicia Boluarte, Salazar-Conde, Martin, Sánchez Boluarte, Arantxa N., Coronel, Danilo Sánchez, Peña-Calero, Brian Norman.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale (EADI) is to provide a standardized measure for assessing the attitudes held by non-disabled workers toward colleagues with intellectual disabilities within a professional setting. This focus is crucial for evaluating and promoting successful workplace inclusion initiatives.

By quantifying attitudes related to both Perception (beliefs about competence and capability) and Social Distance (willingness to interact or collaborate), the EADI aims to help researchers and organizations identify specific cognitive and emotional barriers that may hinder effective interaction and overall inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the workplace.

Construct

The EADI is designed to measure the overarching construct of Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability, which is operationalized through a two-dimensional structure confirmed by factor analysis.

• Perception: This dimension assesses cognitive attitudes and beliefs regarding the professional capabilities, productivity, and general competence of individuals with intellectual disabilities in the workplace.

• Social Distance: This dimension measures the affective and behavioral component of attitudes, reflecting the degree of comfort and willingness of non-disabled individuals to engage in close proximity or collaborative relationships (e.g., forming a work team, offering help) with colleagues who have an intellectual disability.

Validity

The EADI demonstrated strong evidence for both content and internal structure validity during its development, ensuring the scale accurately measures the intended constructs.

Content Validity: Content validation was established through a rigorous expert review process. A panel of 15 experts in the field analyzed the initial item pool, which resulted in the final 10-item, two-dimensional version of the scale, confirming the comprehensive content validity of the instrument.

Internal Structure Validity: Structural validity was confirmed through both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The results consistently supported the intended two-factor model. The CFA model exhibited excellent fit indices: χ² = 84.45, df = 34, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.08, and SRMR = 0.04.

Reliability

The reliability of the EADI was assessed using internal consistency metrics, specifically Cronbach’s alpha (α) and McDonald’s omega (ω), which indicated high consistency for both sub-factors.

• For the Perception factor, internal consistency was high: α = 0.86 and ω = 0.93.

• For the Social Distance factor, internal consistency was also robust: α = 0.83 and ω = 0.92.

These values demonstrate that the items within each dimension reliably measure the same underlying concept, confirming the stability of the instrument.

Factor Analysis

Comprehensive factor analyses were conducted to establish the dimensional structure of the EADI. Both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed, ultimately supporting a clear, parsimonious two-factor model (Perception and Social Distance).

The two factors together accounted for 70% of the total variance observed in the scale items. The correlation between the two factors (inter-factor loading) was 0.63. Initial adjustments involved eliminating items 2 and 6 due to their insufficient performance in evaluating the instrument, both in terms of factorial loading and descriptive indices, resulting in the final, psychometrically sound 10-item scale.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Instrument Type: Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: The instrument is administered electronically.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: No specific age range was specified, but the average age of respondents in the validation study was 39.17 years.

Population Details: The initial study participants were laborers working in a professional environment.

Test Methodology: The scale development involved various psychometric evaluations, including Test Validity, Content Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Attitudes, Intellectual Disability, EADI, Workplace Inclusion, Factor Analysis, Reliability, Perception, Social Distance.

Authors

The scale was developed by a team of researchers primarily affiliated with the Universidad César Vallejo and related psychological measurement study groups.

Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available for any listed author.

Affiliation Email addresses: Carbajal, Alicia Boluarte ([email protected]). Email addresses for other authors are not available.

Correspondence Address: Carbajal, Alicia Boluarte: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2023

Fee: No fee is required for the use of the EADI scale.

Permissions: The scale may be used for research and teaching purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The official license details are available at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

Reference’s

Carbajal, A. B., Salazar-Conde, M., Sánchez Boluarte, A. N., Coronel, D. S., & Peña-Calero, B. N. (2023). Development and psychometric properties of the Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale in the workplace. Interacciones, 9, Article e366.

Items of the Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale (EADI)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale (EADI) is a 10-item measure. The items are structured into two distinct factors:

• Perception

• Social Distance

The specific wording of the 10 items is available for review in the source reference: Carbajal et al. (2023), Table 4, Page 6.

Attitudes Towards Intellectual Disability Scale

EADI

Perception Towards Intellectual Disability

• They can keep their workspace clean and tidy.

• They give important opinions.

• They comply with labor productivity.

• They can perform their work without support.

Social Distance Towards Intellectual Disability

• They deserve respect just like other workers.

• They need a detailed explanation of their functions.

• I would accept his/her help if I needed it.

• I would help him/her if he/she were having difficulties.

• I would stand up for him/her if he/she were mistreated.

• I would form a work team with him (her).

• I would be patient with him/her.

• I would feel comfortable working with him/her.

Note: Items 2 and 6 were excluded from the final measure.