Validation of a Tool to Assess and Track Undergraduate Attitudes Toward Those Living in Poverty

Abstract

Purpose: This article describes the development and validation of the Undergraduate Perceptions of Poverty Tracking Survey (UPPTS). Method: Data were collected from 301 undergraduates at a small university in the Northeast and analyzed using exploratory factor analysis augmented by random qualitative validation. Results: The resulting survey contains 39 questions and has six factors that meet empirical standards for validity and reliability. The UPPTS provides information regarding undergraduate students' perceptions of those living in poverty in three areas: (1) general attitudes toward those living in poverty, including a sense of the students' underlying explanation for why someone may be poor; (2) understanding of and empathy for those living in poverty; and (3) commitment to addressing poverty via direct action or support for programs/services that aid those in poverty. Discussion: The UPPTS builds upon the concepts of a lack of social empathy and cognitive distancing as principal reasons why people fail to do more to help the poor via either direct action or support for programs that will aid the poor. Further, social work and other educators may use the UPPTS to guide their efforts in poverty education and to track the progress of their efforts with undergraduate students.

Use of an Online Game to Evaluate Health Professions Students’ Attitudes toward People in Poverty

“…The finding that females were more empathetic than males matches the gender difference findings of Blair. 21 Blair found that students from families with less income had more positive attitudes, while we did not find a difference.…”

“…8,9,20 Blair et al published a modification of Atherton's scale designed for use with undergraduate students. 21 The researchers chose this scale because it is validated and designed for undergraduate students. This 39-item scale contained in the Undergraduates Perceptions of Poverty Tracking Survey (UPPTS) was used in this research project.…”

“…This 39-item scale contained in the Undergraduates Perceptions of Poverty Tracking Survey (UPPTS) was used in this research project. 21 Prior to our study, various methods were used at our institution to expose students to life for those in poverty. Students were introduced in both preprofessional and professional training programs of health professionals on the campus.…”

Putting old heads on young shoulders: helping social work students uncover the neoliberal hegemony

“…As covered in the introduction, a neoliberal understanding of social problems is easier to understand and can lead to social problems being attributed solely to individual 'bad' behaviour. Blair, Brown, Schoepflin and Taylor (2014) and other academics writing in the USA (Delavega, Kindle, Peterson and Schwartz, 2017;Frank and Rice, 2017;and Segal and Wagaman, 2017) discuss prevailing attitudes to poor people. The authors are congruent in their suggestions that most Americans believe being poor is as a result of bad choices or lazy, substandard behaviour.…”

“…In other words, the analysis required to understand crime through a social justice framework is reduced to interpersonal bad treatment, or the 'P' level of Thompson's seminal PCS model of anti-discriminatory practice (Thompson, 2001). Blair et al (2014) developed a scale measuring mixed subject student attitudes to poor people, and found that views congruent with a moralising self-sufficiency discourse were very apparent. Most students in the study viewed welfare provision negatively and felt that too much money was given to people who had basic character flaws.…”