THE EFFECTS OF 14-WEEK SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSE ON EMPATHIC TENDENCIES AND ATTITUDES OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS DISABLED PEOPLE

The present study investigated the effects of 14-week special education course on empathic tendencies of university students and their attitudes towards people with disabilities. The sample of the study consists of a total of 180 students (46 females and 134 males) between the ages of 18-30 (X？= 20.74±1.93 year), who studied in the Faculty of Sports Sciences. The participants taking part in the study were divided into experimental (n= 89) and control (n= 91) groups, and while the experimental group was given a 14-week education course, the control group was not subjected to any education. In the present study, a “Personal Information Form” was used in order to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the students, the “Empathic Tendency Scale” developed by D？kmen (1988) was used to evaluate their empathic tendencies, and the “Scale of Attitudes towards Disabled People” developed by D？kmen (2000) was employed to evaluate their attitudes towards people with disabilities. When the test results were evaluated, no statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test ‘Empathic Tendency Scores’ and ‘Attitudes Towards Disabled People Scores’ of the groups (p>0.05). In addition, no statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test of ‘Empathic Tendency Scores’ and ‘Attitudes Towards Disabled People Scores’ of the experimental and control groups (p>0.05). Consequently, it was determined that the 14-week special education had no statistically significant effect on the empathic tendency of university students who studied in the Faculty of Sports Sciences and their attitudes towards people with disabilities, but it had a positive effect on their attitudes towards people with disabilities