Assessing Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Students with Mental Health Disorders in 16 Postsecondary Institutions in Quebec

Abstract

The number of students with mental health disorders (MHDs) in postsecondary institutions is increasing. Teachers’ attitudes are among the main factors that influence these students’ academic success. Unfortunately, their attitudes are little studied, in part because of lack of validated scales. Therefore, this article has two purposes: (1) analyse the construct validity of new scales assessing teachers’ attitudes, as well as existing scales without an established construct validity; and (2) report the correlations between the variables assessed in these scales, with a special focus on two variables: (a) teachers’ negative attitudes; and (b) the measures offered to students by teachers. The participants are 232 teachers from 16 French and English CEGEPS in Quebec, Canada. The questionnaire includes three scales created by the research team and three scales from the Mental Illness Awareness Survey. Correlational and factor analyses were conducted. The scales present good construct validity. Four variables were associated with the two variables of interest: confidence in one’s ability to convince a student to seek help; familiarity with MHDs; knowledge and understanding of MHDs; favourable perception of the accommodations offered by adapted and psychosocial services. Based on these results, strategies are proposed to improve teachers’ attitudes.

Keywords:

• Assessment
• attitudes continuous education
• factor analysis
• mental health disorders
• postsecondary institutions
• students
• teachers

Notes

1. ‘Situated in all regions of Quebec and numbering 48, CEGEPs represent the first stage of higher education. Students enter CEGEP after completing six years of elementary school and five years of secondary school. (…) A particular feature of CEGEPs is the co-existence of pre-university programs, leading to university studies, and technical career programs, which prepare students to enter the job market.’ (http://www.fedecegeps.qc.ca/english/what-is-a-cegep/).

2. The items with a factor loading value below 0.40 (see the ‘Statistical Analysis’ section) are not included in the number of items presented for each scale.

3. In Quebec CEGEPs, two types of services are offered to students with difficulties: adapted services (helping centre for those with disabilities) and psychosocial services for all students.

4. The temporary incomplete replaces the ‘failure’ grade in the report card, so that the college exit grade is not affected. The student is given a period of time to complete the evaluations for a given course. The permanent incomplete also replaces the ‘failure’ grade in the report card. In this case, the student must redo the entire course.

5. The English and French questionnaires can be obtained through the first author.