Short- and medium-term impacts of the Just Like You disability awareness program: A quasi-experimental comparison of alternative forms of program delivery in New South Wales' primary schools. (November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lloyd, Adam; Smith, Maxwell; Dempsey, Ian; Fischetti, John; Amos, Kirsten
• Is Part Of: Australian journal of education. Volume 61:Number 3(2017:Dec.)
• Page Start: 288
• Page End: 304
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Subjects: Disability awareness -- inclusive education -- student attitudes -- primary school students -- intervention -- attitudinal change -- longitudinal study -- program evaluation; Education -- Australia -- Periodicals; Education -- Periodicals; 370.994
• DOI: 10.1177/0004944117730649
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0004-9441

Abstract

Given the demands for inclusive and more equitable education, this evaluation compared two versions of the Just Like You disability awareness program delivered in primary schools in New South Wales, Australia, by Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Participants included 297 students from three schools in the Hunter region in the established program and 327 students from four schools in the Sydney region in the newer version of the program. Compared with the established program, the new format comprised a single presenter with a disability, two shorter sessions (rather than one long session) delivered at least one week apart, revised content mapped to the Australian rather than the NSW curriculum and a non-compulsory 'homework' activity offered at the discretion of the presenter. Longitudinal data included three successive administrations (i.e. pre-test, post-test and delayed follow-up) of the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scale. Quasi-experimental comparisons produced intake-adjusted effect sizes favouring the newer program over the established program both in terms of post-test ( d = 0.47) and delayed follow-up ( d = 0.42) Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes towards Children with Handicaps scores. The program evaluation demonstrated the efficacy and sustainability of effects in this short-term focussed disability awareness intervention, with the newer version producing greater improvements in student attitudinal change towards people with a disability than the established version.