Changing Attitudes of Undergraduate Physical Education Students Toward Individuals with Disabilities.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an information treatment intervention and an information and direct contact experience treatment intervention on the attitudes of undergraduate physical education students toward school-aged students with disabilities. Participants were 55 male (n=16) and female (n=39) undergraduate physical education students enrolled in three classes (two experimental and one control). Participants completed the Physical Educators' Attitude Toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities Questionnaire (PEATID-III; Rizzo, 1993) during the first day of the semester and again after the tenth week of the semester. A Group X Time mixed design repeated measures analysis of variance, with a between-subject factor of groups (control, information, information plus direct contact) and a within-subject factor of time (pre/post), determined if there were significant differences between each group over time. Results indicated that the attitudes of undergraduate physical education students toward individuals with disabilities in the information and direct contact experience group improved, but attitudes toward individuals with disabilities did not improve in the information only group. Word Count= 167