2021 Volume 17 Pages 9-19
Background: In Japan, special support education for students with developmental disorders became available in regular classes from April 2007. It has been reported that students with developmental disorders tend to have more health problems than those without. Support is needed from an early stage to reduce difficulties in the daily life of students with developmental disorders and to prevent secondary issues such as bullying and lack of acceptance by peers.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a health support program to improve the skills of Yogo teachers in providing appropriate support to students with developmental disorders.
Methods: Survey 1 was conducted to clarify the actual situation of elementary school students with developmental disorders and analyze the support provided by Yogo teachers. A total of 1,000 public elementary schools were randomly selected nationwide for Survey 1. Questionnaires were sent by mail to the school principals for distribution to Yogo teachers. The survey 1 was conducted between October and December 2017. The contents of the survey included circumstances of students with developmental disorders, the difficulties Yogo teachers face in relation to students with developmental disorders, and the respondents’ hopes related to future training on developmental disorders. Based on the results of Survey 1, a health support program was organized, and a pilot study of the program was conducted (Survey 2). A two-day training session was held in August 2018 to verify the effectiveness of the program. Questionnaires were administered before, immediately after, and three months after the training to verify the effectiveness of the program.
Results: In Survey 1, the authors analyzed the 212 valid responses (valid response rate = 21.2%). There were students with developmental disorders (including undiagnosed cases) at 199 schools (93.9%). The Yogo teachers with ≥6 years of experience were able to smoothly prepare for health examination (p<0.01). In addition, 84.4% had taken the training on developmental disorders. However, there were few trainings focusing on the role of Yogo teachers, and most of them wanted to learn specific support methods. In Survey 2, we organized a health support program with specific support methods for Yogo teachers and conducted a pilot study. In Survey 2, there were 20 Yogo teachers in the training, with a mean age of 38.2 (SD 9.93). The content of the program was evaluated by all the Yogo teachers as appropriate, easy to understand, and useful.
Conclusion: The health support program for students with developmental disorders was positively evaluated by the Yogo teachers who participated in the training. The findings of this study suggest the said program could help Yogo teachers improve their health support skills.
