Attitudes towards people with disabilities in university students

The objective of this study was to describe the attitudes manifested by university students in the city of Piura towards people with disabilities based on sex, age and contact with relatives or friends of people with disabilities. A non-experimental research design was used, with an applied, cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative quantitative approach. The questionnaire was used: Scale of attitudes towards people with disabilities of (Verdugo et al., 1994), made up of 37 questions, which was applied to a sample of 807 Piuran university students of the 1st cycle of the 16 professional careers, from of which 493 are women and 314 men. The results found indicate that university students do not have a favorable attitude towards people with disabilities. However, the comparative analysis indicates that women show more favorable attitudes than men, as well as younger students compared to older students. No significant differences were found according to whether or not they had contact with family members or friends with a disability, except in the area of assessment of abilities and limitations.