Effect of Duration of Peer Awareness Education on Attitudes toward Students with Disabilities: A Systematic Review

The attitudes of peers towards fellow students with disabilities impacts social participation and the development of relationships within the school context. This systematic review examined the effect of duration of a disability-awareness education program on the attitudes of peers towards students with disabilities. Sources such as the Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson), ERIC, and Teacher Reference Center were searched, and yielded thirty studies with a combined sample size of 7,346 students that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. These were critically appraised for quality using the Downs and Black Quality Index (1998). Implications for disability-awareness program development emerged, as well as an expanded role for occupational therapy practitioners to assess the social context in inclusionary settings. Future research should address other program elements to determine best practice in facilitating positive peer attitudes towards students with disabilities in order to promote social inclusion.