Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Attitudes Toward Inclusion Among Teachers of Students with ASD in Lebanon

Background:  More children with ASD are being included in general education classrooms, consistent with the philosophy of inclusion which states that schools should adapt their practices to meet student needs (Kinsella & Senior, 2008). Successful outcomes for children in inclusive classrooms depend largely on teacher self-efficacy, which is potentially enhanced with preservice training and field placement (Atiles et al., 2012); their ASD knowledge; and their attitudes toward inclusion (Rafferty & Griffin, 2005). These are critical in low-resource countries, such as Lebanon (Obeid et al., 2015). Most Lebanese schools lack the needed support and trained staff to run effective programs for children with ASD.

Objectives:  (1) To examine the effects of knowledge and stigma about ASD and attitudes toward inclusion on teacher self-efficacy at baseline. (2) To assess the impact of an in-person training lecture on knowledge about ASD, stigma toward ASD, attitudes toward inclusion, and self-efficacy of teachers.

Methods: A within-subject quasi-experimental design assessed whether the training was associated with changes in the aforementioned variables. Participants completed a pre-test, an hour-long lecture-based training about ASD, and a post-test administered four weeks after training. The training included a 63-slide presentation adapted from Gillespie-Lynch et al. (2015), involving information about ASD and inclusion, effective tools/interventions; it was provided in group sessions at two inclusive schools in Lebanon. Seventy-six teachers completed the pretest, 58 also completed the training and post-test. Measures consisted of questionnaires assessing self-efficacy, attitudes toward inclusion, knowledge and stigma toward ASD.

Results: There was a significant positive correlation between knowledge and self-efficacy; r = .20, p = .044. The model with the predictors (knowledge, stigma, attitudes toward inclusion) was not significantly better than the mean in explaining the variance in baseline self-efficacy, F (3, 71) = 2.01, p = .111.

Participants scored lower during pretest (M = 7.57, SD = 4.96) on the knowledge scale than during post-test (M = 10.83, SD = 5.28), t (46) = -4.28, p < .001, r = 0.5. Participants had lower levels of self-efficacy at pre-test (M = 4.06, SD = .49) compared to posttest (M = 4.23, SD = .44); t (57) = -2.55, p = .007, r = .18.

Conclusions: Higher ASD knowledge was associated with greater self-efficacy among Lebanese teachers; this is consistent with work demonstrating that higher knowledge about strategies to support students with ASD is associated with more confidence in their ability to act as instructional leaders among administrators in the U.S. (Pazey et al., 2014). Participation in the training was associated with improved ASD knowledge and self-efficacy, which is consistent with previous research wherein online or in-person trainings were associated with increased ASD knowledge among college students and teachers (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015; Leblanc et al., 2009). Training teachers to work effectively in inclusive settings is critical, especially in low-resource regions where the limited inclusive schools are under-supported. Effective trainings would enhance conceptions of ASD, attitudes toward inclusion, and self-efficacy, and ultimately the process of inclusion would improve (Cross et al., 2004), leading to more inclusive schools in low-resource countries.