Dissertation
CUTTING THE CORD TO CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURES: THE ROLE OF MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAMS AND LIBERATING STRUCTURES IN CHANGING COLLEGE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2020
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/108096
Abstract
Implicit bias and discrimination toward people with disabilities is at an all-time high. These biases can have unintended consequences, potentially leading to inequalities in health care, the workplace, and in higher education for people with disabilities. Thus, implicit and explicit disability biases need to be identified and reduced before they can create irrevocable damage. As such, this dissertation identified implicit and explicit disability biases within undergraduate students at an eastern Washington university. A media literacy curriculum was created and used in conjunction with a well-known facilitation tool called Liberating Structures (LS), to reduce implicit and explicit biases within these students. A total of 59 undergraduate students volunteered for this study and were randomly split into four groups. Students in the two experimental groups participated in a three-hour long media literacy curriculum entitled, TrueYou Media, while the students in the control groups participated in a three-hour-long Japanese and Intercultural Communication curriculum. Statistical analyses demonstrated significant differences in implicit and explicit attitudes toward people with disabilities. Students in the experimental groups experienced some changes in how they thought about people with disabilities. Results suggest that participants were more skeptical of disability portrayals and that their implicit biases toward people with disabilities decreased between pre and posttest scores. Some gender differences existed between MIP measures and explicit measures of disability bias. Significant differences were also found in the knowledge check responses between those in experimental and control conditions, showing that participants in the media literacy curriculum were able to more accurately answer questions compared to participants in the control groups. Qualitative responses show that LS helped improve critical thinking, group participation, and inclusion in group discussions compared to those students exposed to a traditional classroom format. Results suggest that some students in the experimental conditions went from the precontemplation to the contemplation stage of behavior change. These findings are consistent with existing media literacy research. The results show that while a one-shot three-hour media literacy curriculum may not be enough to completely change behaviors toward people with disabilities, it does get students to start thinking about important issues facing people with disabilities.
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Details
- Title
- CUTTING THE CORD TO CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURES: THE ROLE OF MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAMS AND LIBERATING STRUCTURES IN CHANGING COLLEGE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
- Creators
- Davi Kallman
- Contributors
- Erica W Austin (Advisor)Arvind Singhal (Committee Member)Bruce Pinkleton (Committee Member)Alexis Tan (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 417
- Identifiers
- 99900581608701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation