Perception and attitude of school teachers toward children with disability in an urban community, Northwest Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Teachers are known to be possibly the closest observers of school children and can play a contributory role in detecting disabilities early in children. Also attitudes of teachers towards their students play an important role in student’s academic performance. Our study aimed to determine the perception and attitude of school teachers towards children with disabilities. Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among teachers in schools in Samaru community. Teachers were recruited using a two-stage, multi-stage sampling technique. Attitude was measured using scoring system adapted from the Attitude Towards Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale. Results: The mean age ± SD of respondents was 32.9± 9.2 years. A large proportion; 43 (44.8%) perceived disabled children as children with physical problems only. The mean attitude score±SD was 67.30±14.22. Majority; 73(69.5%) had a positive attitude towards children with disability. There was a statistically significant relationship between attitude of the respondents and frequency of contact with disabled persons (X2 = 6.430, P = 0.011). Conclusion: There is poor understanding of the concept of disability among the teachers studied. However, majority had positive attitude towards children with disability. There is the need to improve the perception and understanding of teachers regarding disability through the LGA school authorities by introduction of pre-service trainings as well as re-trainings which will better prepare them towards attending to children with disabilities.