This quasi-experimental study analyses the effects of an awareness intervention programme with five different branches designed to improve the attitudes of physical education (PE) students towards the inclusion of classmates with disabilities. The contact (yes/no) and its frequency (×1 vs. ×3) with para-athletes, the duration of the programme (1 vs. 6/7 sessions), and the provision of teaching strategies and materials (yes/no) were manipulated. The study involved 603 students aged 14‒19 from five public educational centres in southern Spain. Attitudes were assessed pre- and post-intervention with the Spanish version of the Children’s Attitude towards Integrated Physical Education (general and specific subscales) and the Scale of Attitudes towards Students with Disabilities in PE. The three groups having contact with para-athletes during the interventions improved in the three attitude variables (p < 0.05; −0.20 < d < −0.24). Pairwise comparisons of the improvement ratios also revealed several positive effects of the intervention duration and provision of teaching strategies (p < 0.05; −0.07 < d < 0.18). These findings could assist PE teachers in educating students to improve their knowledge and attitudes towards people with disabilities, having different strategies and resources to conduct awareness interventions based on para-sports in their regular PE classes.

Physical Education teacheŕs (PET) self-efficacy (SE) is a cornerstone for a successful inclusion of students with special educational needs. This study aims to evaluate the effect of a training program called Incluye-T on the SE of Spanish in-service PETs (n = 229) toward the inclusion of students with special education needs in physical education, compared with a control group (n = 40). The study also evaluates how the training program is mediated by two demographic variables: teachers’ gender and teaching setting. The Self-Efficacy Scale for Physical Education Teacher Education Majors towards Children with Disabilities was used to measure SE pre and post-intervention. Significant improvements in SE were demonstrated for in-service PET compared to the control group for all the sub-scales of the SE scale: intellectual, physical, and visual impairments (p < 0.01, large effect sizes). All teachers’ self-efficacy subscales improved regardless of their teaching settings (e.g. primary or secondary schools) and gender. Implications for future professional development provision are discussed, including the delivered training strategies, materials or the duration of the intervention.

This study aimed to examine: (1) the influence of a disability awareness programme, designed and implemented by attendees of the Incluye-T programme and implemented in real educational settings, on the attitudes of their students toward the inclusion of peers with disabilities; (2) the differential effects of the disability awareness activities between classes in which physical impairment, visual impairment, or multi-impairment programmes were implemented; and (3) the influence of personal demographic variables on participants’ attitudes toward the inclusion of peers with disabilities before and after the implementation of the disability awareness physical education (PE) sessions. A sample of 1105 PE students (13.1 ± 2.2 years) from 56 Spanish public educational centres took part. After the training programme on self-efficacy toward inclusion, physical educators designed and implemented awareness interventions at their schools. Physical educators implemented physical-only (23.2%), visual-only (42.9%), and combined activities for both impairments (33.9%). PE students’ attitudes toward inclusion were measured pre- and post-interventions. Those who participated in combined activities revealed significant differences for the four attitude scores (p < 0.001), while those taking part in visual-only activities demonstrated decreased scores for the overall (p = 0.044) and the control beliefs subscale (p = 0.010). PE teachers were capable of influencing their PE students’ attitudes toward inclusion using awareness activities taking into consideration the ecology of the interventions and the PE students’ base level of attitudes before delivering sessions. The type of impairment/disability that was the focus of the awareness activities was an important factor that influenced the effectiveness of the interventions.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention entitled A-Judo Programme for the reduction in bullying and improvement of prosocial behaviour at school, based on the theory of self-determination (SDT). Physical education teachers (PETs) received 20 h of specific training, implementing the programme thereafter in their classes in a total of 10 sessions of 50 min each (two sessions per week over 5 weeks). Variables such as teacher’s teaching style, basic psychological needs (BPNs), self-determined motivation, tolerance and respect, moral identity, harassment and victimisation were studied. Seventy-nine students (11.13 ± 0.52 y) of both sexes (40 girls and 39 boys) participated in the study and were divided into an intervention and a control group (which received no training). The results showed significant changes with moderate to high effect sizes in BPN, motivation, tolerance–respect, moral identity and bullying. These research findings improve the body of knowledge of the applications offered by SDT and its usefulness for improving anti-bullying programmes through PET training.

Acquiring specific training in disability seems to be a key aspect for achieving school inclusion. Teachers who receive such prior training would be more prepared to address diversity in the classroom, which could be related to their perception of self-efficacy. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Physical Education Teacher Education Majors toward Children with Disabilities (SE-PETE-D). Two hundred and eighteen in-service physical education teachers participated in this study, with a M_age = 38.06 years and M_{teaching  experience} = 11.72 years. To obtain the three subscales resulting from intellectual, physical, and visual disabilities, several exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The results supported three independent models made up of three factors (intellectual, physical, and visual disabilities). The structure of the models was invariant with respect to gender, the educational stage in which the teaching was taking place, previous teaching experience, previous training, and previous experience in adapted or inclusive physical activity and sports. The subscales presented high reliability values for Cronbach’s alpha, and Omega’s index ≥0.81. This study provides evidence of the validity and reliability of an instrument to measure the perceived self-efficacy of physical education teachers to include students with disabilities in their classes and is the first study to be applied with in-service teachers. In addition, some methodological and conceptual limitations of the original scale are identified, opening new lines of work in relation to training situations to assess the perception of self-efficacy or the type of disability.

Background: Boccia is a Paralympic sport played by athletes with severe neurological impairments affecting all four limbs. Impaired manual dexterity (MD) and intralimb coordination (ILC) may limit individuals’ ability to perform certain activities such as grasping, releasing, or manipulating objects, which are essential tasks for daily life or to participate in Para sports such as boccia. However, there are currently no specific instruments available to assess hand-arm coordination in boccia players with severe cerebral palsy (CP). Purpose: To design new sport-specific coordination tests to assess impaired manual dexterity and intra-limb coordination in boccia players; afterwards, quantify to what extent their coordination is impaired compared to a control group without neurological impairments. Methods: Seventy-three recreational boccia players with severe CP (BC1: age = 34.01 ± 16.43 yr; BC2: age = 33.97 ± 14.29 yr), and 19 healthy adults (age = 27.89 ± 7.08 yr) completed the test battery. The Box & Block (BBT) and Box & Ball (BBLT) tests were used to assess MD and four tapping tests to assess upper ILC. Results: Both MD tests were able to discriminate between sport classes. Boccia players obtained better scores in the BBLT in comparison to the BBT, showing that the BBLT had more appropriate testing features. On the other hand, only one of the ILC tests was able to discriminate between sport classes, displaying the highest practical significance (d = -1.12). Participants with CP scored significantly worse in all the coordination tests compared to the control group. Conclusions: Using sport-specific equipment facilitated grasp function during the MD assessment. Regarding the ILC, the type of movement (continuous vs. discrete) seems to be more relevant for classification than the movement direction (vertical vs. horizontal) or the presence of a ball. Keywords: Paralympic, cerebral palsy, neurological impairment, Para-sport, Box and Block, Tapping test.