Primary Students’ Attitudes towards Peers with Disabilities in Physical Education in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The attitudes of students without disabilities toward their peers with disabilities are considered an important determinant of successful inclusion in physical education settings. Nonetheless, there is limited research on this topic in non-Western societies, especially in Arab contexts. Thus, to address this paucity in the literature, this study aimed to assess the general attitudes of Saudi students without disabilities towards their peers with disabilities and examine the associations between selected student-related variables (e.g., gender, age, type of school, school location, having a family member or a friend or a classmate with a disability, and having experience of playing with a person with a disability) and attitudes of students without disabilities. A total of 972 students aged 9–12 years old (Mage = 10.6; SD = 1.1; girls = 49.7%) completed the Arabic version of the Scale of Attitudes toward Students with Disabilities in Physical Education—Primary Education (SASDPE-PE). Data analysis indicated that, in general, participants reported positive attitudes toward their peers with disabilities in physical education classes. Despite boys being more likely to hold positive attitudes than girls, no significant difference between them existed. The results showed that 10-year-old participants reported more significantly positive attitudes than those in the other age groups. Participants attending public schools reported more significant positive attitudes toward their peers with disabilities in physical education classes compared to those attending private schools. Having a friend with a disability was linked to students without disabilities having positive attitudes towards their peers with disabilities. In contrast, having a family member or a classmate with disabilities and having played with a person with a disability were not related to such positive attitudes. The current study’s findings have significant implications for inclusive educational practices.

Effects of disability type, prior contact, and school setting on attitudes toward peers with disabilities among Saudi female students aged 7 to 12 years

“…This result concurs with Alnahdi's [35] finding that 357 male elementary school students (grades 3-6) from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also reported having positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities (overall mean: 24.5 from the highest-possible mean score of 40). Also, the results of the current study agree with those of Alhumaid [34] who found that most of the 972 students he sampled (aged 9-12 from both public and private all-male and all-female elementary schools in Eastern Saudi Arabia) expressed positive attitudes toward children with disabilities. Further, recent work by Szumski et al [46] suggests that most non-disabled students regard their peers with disabilities either favourably or neutrally; however, there is a world of difference between regarding peers with disabilities favourably or neutrally [47].…”

“…14,26], many such variables have yet to be examined in the Saudi Arabian context and the research that has been done on this topic in Saudi Arabia is inconsistent [e.g. [34][35][36]. There is also a scarcity of research that attempts to establish links between individual qualities and environmental factors connected to the community, students, and school as predictors of such attitudes.…”

“…Among the issues that have yet to be explored in the Saudi context are the effects of disability type on the attitudes of non-disabled elementary school girls toward their peers with disabilities. To clarify, although overall disability [34], physical impairments [37], ID [35], and autism [38] have been investigated, to date, no studies have been carried out on how having two or more disabilities affects the attitudes of non-disabled people towards those living with such circumstances. As a result, our first hypothesis (H1) is based only on the results of research conducted in international settings.…”

“…She also discovered that students' attitudes about people with disabilities improved after even minimal exposure to people with disabilities. Having a friend with a disability has been linked to more positive attitudes toward disability [12,34,58], though Freer's review of the literature notes that this is not always the case [35,59]. However, the direction of this association is unclear.…”

Impacto de uma sessão de sensibilização na aula de Educação Física nas atitudes de estudantes face à inclusão de colegas com deficiência

“…A Escola aumenta a possibilidade de os alunos com deficiência serem aceites pelos seus pares sem deficiência; portanto, é crucial ampliar as oportunidades para que os alunos interajam (Alhumaid, 2023), sendo a aula de Educação Física um espaço privilegiado para essas interações. Os docentes de EF poderão implementar sessões de sensibilização nas suas aulas, uma vez que os resultados atestam o impacto positivo dos programas de consciencialização sobre a deficiência, no sentido de produzir mudanças atitudinais positivas, demonstrando ser uma ferramenta prática, simples e eficaz na sensibilização para a inclusão de alunos com deficiência nas aulas de Educação Física.…”