A review and analysis of programmes promoting changes in attitudes towards people with disabilities

Abstract

This paper reviews some programmes promoting changes in attitudes towards people with disabilities and the techniques used in order to implement them. The study collects projects carried out in the educational setting between the years 1972 and 2009 and which are written up in the following documentary sources: Web of Knowledge, an integrated scholarly information system, and the CSIC databases and electronic journals, Dialnet, Eric, Psycinfo, Psycodoc and Scopus. Most of these programmes use a variety of either isolated or combined strategies. The ones most frequently used are establishing contact with people with disabilities, collecting information about issues related to this population, discussing non-academic experiences in small groups, working in cooperative groups, carrying out interpersonal ability training, simulating disabilities and carrying out tutorial programmes. The findings of the review show that contact, information and cooperative teamwork are the most efficient resources for achieving more positive attitudes. On the other hand, important methodological limitations reduce the significance of the conclusions and findings obtained by many of the programmes reviewed. These limitations mainly make reference to: a) lack of follow up, as only 12 out of the 63 reviewed programmes promoting attitudinal changes have carried out some type of follow up; b) the use of measurement techniques with no previous psychometric studies, and c) inadequate experimental designs.