The effects of modifying contact, duration, and teaching strategies in awareness interventions on attitudes towards inclusion in physical education

This quasi-experimental study analyses the effects of an awareness intervention programme with five different branches designed to improve the attitudes of physical education (PE) students towards the inclusion of classmates with disabilities. The contact (yes/no) and its frequency (x1 vs. x3) with para-athletes, the duration of the programme (1 vs. 6/7 sessions), and the provision of teaching strategies and materials (yes/no) were manipulated. The study involved 603 students aged 14-19 from five public educational centres in southern Spain. Attitudes were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Spanish version of the Children's Attitude towards Integrated Physical Education (general and specific subscales) and the Scale of Attitudes towards Students with Disabilities in PE. The three groups having contact with para-athletes during the interventions improved in the three attitude variables (p < 0.05; -0.20 < d < -0.24). Pairwise comparisons of the improvement ratios also revealed several positive effects of the intervention duration and provision of teaching strategies (p < 0.05; -0.07 < d < 0.18). These findings could assist PE teachers in educating students to improve their knowledge and attitudes towards people with disabilities, having different strategies and resources to conduct awareness interventions based on para-sports in their regular PE classes.

Automated summary

This quasi-experimental study analyzed the effects of an awareness intervention program designed to improve physical education students' attitudes towards the inclusion of classmates with disabilities. The study found that students who had contact with para-athletes during the interventions showed improvements in their attitudes, and the duration of the program and provision of teaching strategies also had positive effects on attitude improvement.