IndexContentsContext and rationaleProceduresA. Research designB. SampleC. Measurement/InstrumentationD. Detailed Study ProceduresE. Internal validityF. Data Analysis This project further expanded OSUCOM's disability curriculum by providing medical students with the opportunity to interact with real people with disabilities (both developmental and physical) in a medical setting. To assess student learning, pre- and post-meeting surveys were administered, and students also wrote reflections on their experience after the meeting. Although initially used for educational purposes, findings that could indicate potential increases in students' comfort and confidence in interviewing people with disabilities would be valuable to the scientific and educational community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Our research question, to be addressed through analysis of pre- and post-encounter surveys and qualitative analysis of reflections, is whether or not a brief clinical encounter with a person with a disability (both developmental than physics) improves medical students' competence in working with people with disabilities. Background and Rationale Recent research has indicated that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience health disparities (Havercamp & Scott, 2015; In states including Ohio, individuals with disabilities have difficulty accessing and receiving health services of high quality (Prokup, Andridge, & Havercamp, 2017). Medical student training has often been cited as the solution to this problem. The Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSUCOM) has integrated a self-advocacy group and parent advocacy to educate medical students about autism spectrum disorder (Havercamp, Ratliff-Schaub, Macho, Johnson, Bush, & Souders, 2016) lectures, presentations, didactic training, and interaction with model patients have been included in other settings of undergraduate medical schools (Symons, McGuigan, & Akl, 2009; Woodard, Havercamp, Zwygart, & Perkins, 2012). The present research attempts to determine whether students who experience encounters with real people with disabilities (hypothetically closer to the life of a lecture, presentation, didactic training, or model patient encounter) improve students' attitudes and overall comfort with the likelihood of working with people with disabilities in their future practices.ProceduresA. Research project Data collection during the simulated meeting experience consisted of a survey of pre- and post-meeting attitudes. This design is appropriate to answer our research question of whether a simulated clinical encounter affects (and improves) medical students' self-reported comfort and confidence, among other attitudinal variables addressed in the investigation.B. SampleSample participants are the 118 medical students who took part in the simulated clinical experience and provided their feedback through the pre- and post-meeting survey. Their responses are anonymous.C. Measurement/InstrumentationThe pre- and post-meeting survey included demographic questions, questions about the disability of the person they spoke with, and a Likert scale-style questionnaire modified from the caregiver questionnaire administered in the Healthcare and Disability Research conducted by Robey, Gwiazda and Morse (2001). There are no reliability or validity data available for this questionnaire. The items asked students to rate their confidence/apprehension, ability/lack of ability, comfort/discomfort, grace/embarrassment,.