An annual wheelchair basketball tournament at a mid-sized university in the southwestern U.S. serves two purposes: first, to raise awareness of individuals with disabilities (IWD) and second, to raise funds for a local Special Olympics event. The purpose of this study was to examine whether participation in or spectating of this event had an…

The teacher training programme set up a five-day sports camp to explore the effects of intense contact on the attitudes, self-efficacy and behaviour of pre-service teachers regarding persons with disabilities. A questionnaire based on the components of the theory of planned behaviour was completed by 77 pre-service participants. General analyses…

Background: Service-learning has been used in adapted physical activity and education (APA/E) courses in kinesiology. However, evidence has been lacking to clarify the need for utilizing service-learning in APA/E courses as an avenue to change attitudes of students. Purpose: This study aimed to compare two APA/E courses, one with service-learning…

Previous research suggests that high quality contact between people from different groups is a relatively consistent way of decreasing stereotypes and prejudices. The authors determined that a very short-term, service-learning project with people with developmental disabilities (DD) could reduce college students' fear of this population. In…

The monograph provides a review of research studies over the past 25 years which have made use of the Attitude Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) Scale. The report focuses on pertinent information about the scales, their psychometric properties, and the multitude of ways they have been used. An introductory chapter looks briefly at the history of the…

Two groups of elementary education majors were studied: one with training in mainstreaming and one without. For comparison, a group of special education majors were included. Findings indicated that the training was effective in improving the attitudes of the first group toward the disabled and their integration into the classroom. (Author/SK)

Results of this study show that (1) vocational agriculture teachers have positive attitudes toward the physically handicapped; (2) inservice education can significantly improve teacher attitudes and (3) effective inservice techniques include videotape presentations of handicapped persons and informal lectures. (SK)