Influencing Attitudes Toward the Handicapped:

No abstract available for this article.     

Counselor Trainees' Attitudes Toward Mainstreaming the Handicapped

This study reports the results of a questionnaire on attitudes toward mainstreaming handicapped students administered to graduate counseling students at a Midwestern university. Implications for counselor education programs are suggested.     

Teaching Emotionally Handicapped Adolescents

An efficient teacher attitude is necessary in educating emotionally handicapped adolescents, including the ability to convince students that their problems can be overcome, that every student has some asset upon which to build, and that the classroom can be an enjoyable place. Effective teaching is a performing art and can be learned. The teacher must be able to control tension in the classroom; enlist the aid of students; admit mistakes without excuses; use school work as therapy; communicate interest to students; have the strength of character to maintain order, not as the originator of rules of decorum but merely their enforcer; and be prepared for physically dangerous behaviour. Finally the teacher, administrator and the university as a training facility must all assume some of the responsibility for educating emotionally handicapped adolescents.     

Education Affects Attitudes of Physical Therapy Providers Toward People with Dementia

A survey was sent to every skilled nursing home (N = 495) in Indiana regarding the demographics, education, and whether the severity of dementia impacts the attitudes of people in physical therapy practice. Physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) practicing in nursing homes spend considerable time (44.0%) working with patients who have a diagnosis of dementia. As patients with dementia disorders declined cognitively, attitudes of PTs/PTAs become increasingly negative, and respondents feel that education, training, and resources are insufficient to maximize outcomes in the later stages of the disease.     

The Professional Education of Handicapped People in Moscow

The provision of access to professional education for handicapped students in Russia faces a number of problems. Research shows that special attention needs to be given to such issues as the practice of preferential enrollment for handicapped people, the main factors limiting access to a professional education, and the provision of an obstacle-free environment.     

Attitudes of Secular and Religious Israeli Adolescents Towards Persons with Disabilities: a multidimensional analysis

Differences between religious and secular people in their attitudes towards persons with disabilities may originate in social-cultural factors, such as values and norms, as well as in personality factors like dogmatism. Since religious and secular people differ in these characteristics, it was expected that they would differ in their attitudes as well. Attitudes towards persons with disabilities reflect complex interpersonal and intrapersonal processes and therefore should be assessed with multidimensional measures. In the present study the attitudes of 83 religious and 51 secular Israeli adolescents were measured with Siller's Disability Factor Scale–General (DFS-G). The questionnaire included seven factors that reflect psychodynamic processes operating to protect the individual against the threat and anxiety associated with the presence of a person with a disability or even by the mere consideration of his/her condition. Level of dogmatism was measured as well. No differences in dogmatism were found between the two groups. Secular participants expressed more positive attitudes than religious participants on two attitude scales—Generalized Rejection and Authoritarian Virtuousness. These two scales express special, segregative, and unequal attitudes. The findings give some support to the claim that religious affiliation, even if it encourages care for persons with disabilities, is associated with segregation and attribution of unequal social status to these people.     

Reliability and Validity of a Hebrew Version of the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Hebrew version of Kogan's (1961 Kogan , N. ( 1961 ). Attitudes Toward Old People: The development of a scale and an examination of correlates . Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 62 ( 1 ), 44 – 54 . doi: 10.1037/h0048053 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) Attitudes Toward Old People scale. A self-administered questionnaire in Hebrew was given to a convenience sample of 300 people under the age of 65 who resided in three neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. The Hebrew version of the Attitudes toward Old People scale demonstrated good psychometric properties. Internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha was high (α = .89). Factor analysis showed five loading factors. The Israeli version of the scale was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the general population's attitudes toward older people. It can be a useful instrument for studies in Israel as well as for cross-national and comparative studies to assess the degree of ageism towards older people.     

Student Attitudes Toward Child Behavior Problems

Abstract

This study investigated differences in verbal ability and school achievement of bilingual and monolingual children in grades 3,4, and 5. American children attending a Department of Defense school at Camp Zama, Japan, were classified as bilingual or monolingual based on information provided by parents. Children were also classified as being of high, middle, or low nonverbal ability in terms of the Nonverbal score of the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Tests. Dependent variables were the Lorge-Thorndike Verbal Score and the 15 scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. At grade 3, bilingual and monolingual children performed similarly. By grade 4, monolingual children performed noticeably better than bilingual children on verbal or language type tests, and in grade 5 the differences were even more substantial. On relatively nonverbal tests, bilingual and monolingual children continued to perform similarly.     

Major Influences on Attitudes Toward Science

This research study investigated the attitudes toward science of 8th-grade students in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, and Korea, based on recent TIMSS data, and suggests a model of family and school influences on their attitudes. The structural equation model contained 3 exogenous constructs – family’s educational background, aspiration, school climate – and 2 endogenous constructs – teaching and student attitudes toward science. Educational background, aspiration, and school climate were shown to have a direct effect on attitudes, while teaching was shown to directly affect attitudes and to be affected by aspiration and school climate.     

Measuring Attitudes Toward Human Relations Training

This article reports a study designed to develop an instrument to measure attitudes toward human relations training. Test-retest stability and internal consistency reliabilities were established.     

Teacher' Attitudes Toward Educational Computing:

No abstract available for this article.     

Endurance of Undergraduate Attitudes Toward Older Adults

This cross-sectional study assessed undergraduate attitudes toward older adults and attitude endurance 3 to 18 months after aging coursework. Survey respondents included 349 students who took an aging elective and 430 comparison students. Aging-elective students indicated more positive attitudes than comparison students. Attitudes did not vary across 3 groups staggered by time elapsed from completing the course until testing (3 to 18 months). 4 variables accounted for the variance in attitudes toward elders at a statistically significant level: majoring in biology, having frequent or occasional contact with unrelated older adults, taking an aging course, and post-course knowledge of aging.     

Attitudes of Elementary Classroom Teachers Toward Mainstreaming

The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward mainstreaming issues of elementary classroom teachers undertaking an introductory course in special education. Subjects were also queried about how they felt P.L. 94‐142 was perceived by other interested groups and indicated their estimates of the manageability of students with special needs within the regular classroom. Findings support the need for comprehensive in‐service training programs designed to modify attitudes of regular teachers.     

Attitudes Towards the Elderly Among German Adolescents

Many societies are encountering significant changes in their population structure as the number of older people is increasing while children and adolescents become fewer. This study examines pupils' attitudes towards elderly people in Germany. A total of 935 pupils (458 boys, 477 girls) participated in this study. Grade distribution was as follows: 192 (5th grade), 148 (6th grade), 208 (7th grade), 219 (8th grade), and 168 (9th grade). We provide evidence for two underlying latent factors, “prejudice” and “appreciation.” The “prejudice” factor contained prejudices and negative attitudes towards old people, and the “appreciation” factor contained items that were positively related to old people. On average, pupils valued old people. Based on a multivariate general linear model, we found a significant influence of gender, grade, and distance to grandparents. Girls valued old people higher, thus rating them higher on the appreciation scale. However, effect size was comparably low. No differences existed concerning the prejudice scale. Grade effects showed that prejudice increases and appreciation declines with increasing age. Distance to their grandparents significantly influenced the attitudes. Pupils with grandparents in the near vicinity valued old people more than pupils with their grandparents farther away. We suggest implementing intergenerational educational programs in primary school and in 5th and 6th grade in Germany.