This study investigated the effects of two treatments (film and discussion) on attitude change toward disabled persons, and the retention of any changes six weeks after treatment administration. One-hundred-ninety-five elementary and secondary school students from grades 6, 9, and 12 were randomly assigned to groups viewing the film A DIFFERENT APPROACH, discussing aspects of disability with a disabled person in a wheelchair, or no treatment (control). The research design was a modified pretest-posttest procedure with a follow-up observation at six weeks. Assessments were made by use of the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons (ATDP) scale, Forms A, B, and O. The ATDP scale presents the items with six response categories in a Likert format and groups all forms of disability into a single attitude target--"physically disabled persons." The findings indicate that both the film and the discussion produced significant results between pretest and follow-up mean scores. However, no significant differences were found when the two treatments were compared alone. Neither the film nor the discussion group mean scores were significantly different when the posttest and follow-up scores were compared. Significant differences were found by grade level when the analysis of covariance was performed on the posttest scores with pretest scores as the covariate. Students in grades 6 and 9 showed greater positive responses to the discussion than the film. However, the film had greater positive influence on students in grade 12. Retention of attitude change was not maintained over the six-weeks period and there was no support for the contention that one of the two treatments was more likely to positively modify attitudes over time. Although retention losses occurred, there was greater retention of positive attitude the higher the grade level among students who viewed the treatment film. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-08, Section: A, page: 3429. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74262 |
| Contributors | MULKEY, SIDNEY WAYNE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 187 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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