Attitudes of Primary School-Age Children Toward Peers with Disability Enrolled in Inclusive Governmental Schools in Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study

AIM: This study aimed to identify the attitudes of primary school-age children toward peers with disabilities enrolled in inclusive governmental schools.

METHOD: A descriptive design using the Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes Toward Children with Handicaps Scale (CATCH) in addition to sociodemographic data was implemented to gather data from 478 primary school-aged children from (grades 5 and 6) at El-Mansoura inclusive governmental primary schools in Egypt. The data were collected for 2 months (from February 12 to April 12, 2023).

RESULT: Primary school-age children had a positive attitude toward their peers with disabilities (M=20.93, SD ± 2.88). Among the participants, girls had higher CATCH total scores than boys. The finding suggests that having relatives or friends with disabilities is associated with higher scores in the Behavior domain and the total CATCH score among female and male school-age children.

CONCLUSION: Primary school-age children had a positive attitude toward their peers with disabilities, with the mean score on behavior being the highest while the one on effect was the lowest; girls and boys who had a close friend or family member with disabilities had significantly higher overall scores compared to their peers who did not have such relationships.

Cite this article as: Alaa Eldin Barakat Elsherbini, H., Amin Awad, L., & Hamed Elshafie, W. (2025). Attitudes of primary school-age children toward peers with disability enrolled in inclusive governmental schools in Egypt: A cross-sectional study. Florence Nightingale Journal of Nursing, 33, 0203, doi:10.5152/FNJN.2025.24203