Students' attitude towards inclusive physical education according to the type of disability: validation of two questionnaires

Abstract

When it comes to inclusion in Physical Education (PE), the attitude of non-disabled students has an impact on the perception of students with disabilities about their own inclusion. This attitude is influenced by personal factors such as sex, age and previous experience, but there is no evidence on how it varies according to the type of disability. The aim of this study was to develop and validate two questionnaires to compare secondary school students' attitudes towards two different forms of disability, visual (CAIPE-Vi) and intellectual (CAIPE-In). Content validity was studied through expert judgement, while construct validity and reliability were obtained through factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha. In total, 209 participants responded to the CAIPE-Vi (n = 100, 47 males and 53 females, 14.30 [1.38] years old) and the CAIPE-In (n = 109, 53 males and 56 females, 14.40 [1.40] years old). Both questionnaires showed the same seven-item bifactor structure that explained 71.64% of the variance of CAIPE-Vi and 65.97% of CAIPE-In, and obtained an ordinal alpha above 0.70 for each factor. In conclusion, CAIPE-Vi and CAIPE-In have been shown to be two valid and reliable instruments for assessing student attitudes taking into account the type of disability. The use of these tests would allow more specific information to be obtained and appropriate interventions and resources to be developed to favour the inclusion of students with disabilities in PE classes.