Investigating the knowledge and attitude of primary school teachers in Tehran towards Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Learning Disorders and their relation to teacher's characteristics

Learning Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder are considered among the most common childhood disorders which occur concomitantly in many cases and affect the life and future of children as long as their education is concerned. Thus, knowledge and attitude towards these disorders have been given much importance by teachers, especially during the early years of education. The purpose of the present study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of primary school teachers in Tehran towards Learning Disability and Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder and to investigate their relationship with teachers’ characteristics.
The study was conducted on 200 primary school teachers in Tehran. Cluster sampling was carried out in five school districts in the north, south, east, west, and center of Tehran and then the final schools were selected randomly from among them. Three questionnaires including demographic information, Knowledge and Attitudes towards Learning Disability, and Knowledge and Attitudes towards Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder were administered. The validity of the questionnaires were confirmed by five child and adolescent psychiatrists and the reliability of the questionnaires were estimated to be 0.89, using Cronbach's Alpha.
There was a positive significant correlation between knowledge and attitude’s scores on the two disorders. The mean of female participant's knowledge scores was higher than that of the male participants on both disorders. No relationship was observed between age, educational level, and educational experiences, and teachers’ knowledge and attitude.
The teachers who had more knowledge and more positive attitudes towards a disorder received higher scores on the other disorder. Female teachers had more knowledge about AD/HD and LD compared with male teachers. Therefore, it seems that male teachers need more education in this regard.