Health worker attitudes

What is being tracked?

Measure: Health workers are disability confident and respond positively to people with disability

The Strategy was set to see the following tracked – proportion of health professionals who are disability confident and respond positively to people with disability. Measure wording has been revised to clarify its intent.

This measure is part of the Key sector attitudes to people with disability priority of the Strategy. This priority is about supporting more positive attitudes towards people with disability by workers in the key sectors.

The desired outcome is that health workers have more positive attitudes towards people with disability.

Last updated:

Outcome area: Community attitudes Priority: Key sector attitudes to people with disability

  • Baseline value

    71%in 2022

  • Latest value

    71%in 2022

Status not known yet more data from after the Strategy started are needed

View the data source

State and territory

Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary between states and territories?

The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by Australian states and territories. In 2022, 79% of responses from health workers in Tasmania were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 69% of responses from health workers in Victoria.

* Should be used with caution: proportion has a Margin of Error (MoE) >10 percentage points or proportion ± MoE is <0% or >100%.

Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

Population groups

How this measure varies by…

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability for First Nations and non-Indigenous health workers?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by Indigenous status. In 2022, 53% of responses from First Nations health workers were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 71% of responses from non-Indigenous health workers (please note that the proportion for the First Nations group has a high margin of error and should be used with caution).

    * Should be used with caution: proportion has a Margin of Error (MoE) >10 percentage points or proportion ± MoE is <0% or >100%.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by gender?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by gender. In 2022, 68% of responses from male health workers were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 72% of responses from female health workers (please note that the numbers for 'Non-binary/Other' gender category were not published due to small sample numbers and to protect confidentiality).

    n.p. (not published) Category has been suppressed to avoid identifying individual people.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by age group?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, grouped by age. In 2022, 74% of responses from health workers aged 18–24 were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 68% of responses from health workers aged 65 and over.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by health worker cultural and linguistic diversity background?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) status. In 2022, 62% of responses from health workers with CALD backgrounds were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 75% of responses from health workers in the non-CALD group.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by location?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by location. In 2022, 69% of responses from health workers in greater capital city areas were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 75% of responses from health workers in the rest of state or territory locations.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by their own disability status?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by disability status. In 2022, 70% of responses from health workers with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 71% of responses from health workers without disability.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by their carer status?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by carer status. In 2022, 88% of responses from health workers who were both paid and unpaid carer were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 66% of responses from health workers who were not a carer.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by their experience of living with a person with disability?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by experience of having lived with someone who had disability. In 2022, 76% of responses from health workers who said they are currently living with someone with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 70% of responses from health workers who have never lived with someone who had disability.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by their personal connection to someone with disability?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by personal connection with someone who had disability. In 2022, 79% of responses from health workers who had a teacher or lecturer with disability were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 62% of responses from health workers who had not personally known someone with disability.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by education level?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by highest level of education. In 2022, 72% of responses from health workers who had completed a bachelor degree or higher were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 70% of responses from health workers who had completed a certificate or diploma.

    * Should be used with caution: proportion has a Margin of Error (MoE) >10 percentage points or proportion ± MoE is <0% or >100%.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

  • Do health worker attitudes towards people with disability vary by sexual orientation?

    The data in the graph and the table below show the proportion of responses from health workers (aged 18 and over) that were positive on being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, by sexual orientation. In 2022, 71% of responses from health workers who were straight (heterosexual) were positive about being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability, as were 74% of responses from health workers whose sexual orientation was gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other.

    Source: Department of Social Services – Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us | Data source overview

Where did these data come from?

Data on health workers being disability confident and responding positively to people with disability come from the Australia’s Disability Strategy Survey – Share with us, collected for the first time in 2022 on behalf of the Department of Social Services.

Learn more about these data
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