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To be or not to be an inclusive teacher: Are empathy and social dominance relevant factors to positive attitudes towards inclusive education?

ABSTRACT: Positive inclusive teacher attitudes are a key factor in achieving inclusive education due to the many benefits they generate for schools and social contexts. Studies have focused on analysing which variables may promote positive attitudes. The objective of this study was to analyse the predictive power of sociodemographic variables, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social dominance orientation (social dominance and opposition to equality) on teachers' attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion by comparing linear relationship models and models based on fuzzy-set comparative qualitative analysis. The sample consisted of 268 teachers of different educational levels aged between 20 and 64 years (M = 42.46, SD = 9.22), 66% of whom were women. The teachers were administered the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) scale, the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) scale. Two different statistical methodologies were used: traditional regression models and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) models. The results of the regression models suggest that social dominance is the main predictor of attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion. Social dominance is negatively related to attitudes and positively related to sentiments and concerns. Only opposition to equality and emotional empathy are related to attitudes. On the other hand, the results of the QCA models suggest that low social dominance and high cognitive and emotional empathy, as well as female sex, predict higher levels of positive attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusion. Since teachers interact most with students, it is important to be aware of how their empathy and social dominance orientations influence inclusion to develop intervention programmes that seek to train teachers in these capabilities.

SUBMITTER: Navarro-Mateu D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6903715 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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To be or not to be an inclusive teacher: Are empathy and social dominance relevant factors to positive attitudes towards inclusive education?

Navarro-Mateu Diego D Franco-Ochoa Jacqueline J Valero-Moreno Selene S Prado-Gascó Vicente V

PloS one 20191210 12

Positive inclusive teacher attitudes are a key factor in achieving inclusive education due to the many benefits they generate for schools and social contexts. Studies have focused on analysing which variables may promote positive attitudes. The objective of this study was to analyse the predictive power of sociodemographic variables, empathy (cognitive and emotional), and social dominance orientation (social dominance and opposition to equality) on teachers' attitudes, sentiments, and concerns a ...[more]

PMID: 31821354

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Project description:Anti-fat bias in healthcare providers and medical students has serious implications for quality of care of higher-weight patients. Studies of interventions aimed at reducing anti-fat attitudes in medical students have generally been disappointing, with little enduring effect. It is possible that some students may be more receptive to prejudice-reducing influences than others, due to underlying differences in their personal characteristics. It is also possible that attitudes toward patients, specifically, may differ from anti-fat attitudes in general, and prejudice-reduction effectiveness on patient-specific attitudes has not yet been evaluated. The present study explored the effect on general and patient-specific anti-fat attitudes of (1) contact with higher-weight individuals prior to and during medical school; and (2) training designed to increase medical students' empathy toward patients by encouraging them to take the patient's perspective during clinical encounters. The moderating role of individual difference factors on effectiveness of contact and student-reported hours of empathy training on patient-specific attitudes was assessed. A total of 3,576 students enrolled across 49 US medical schools completed an online survey at the start of their first year of medical school and at the end of their fourth year. Favorable contact experience with higher-weight patients predicted improved attitudes toward heavier patients after 4 years of medical school, and appeared sufficient to partially offset the effects of dislike of higher-weight individuals at baseline. The impact of favorable contact on general anti-fat attitudes was less strong, highlighting the importance of using target-specific outcome measures. The positive effects of favorable contact on attitudes toward higher-weight patients did not differ based on students' baseline levels of social dominance orientation, dispositional empathy, or need for cognitive closure. In contrast, the effectiveness of training did vary by student characteristics, generally being more effective in students who were more egalitarian and empathic at baseline, with little effect, or even adverse effects in students low in these traits. Overall, however, perspective-taking training produced only small improvements in attitudes toward higher-weight patients.

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To be or not to be an inclusive teacher: Are empathy and social dominance relevant factors to positive attitudes towards inclusive education?

Publications

To be or not to be an inclusive teacher: Are empathy and social dominance relevant factors to positive attitudes towards inclusive education?

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