Perceived Efficacy and Anxiety of Teachers in Japan toward Supporting Students with Chronic Illness in Mainstream School

The objective of this study was to examine mainstream school teachers’ anxiety and selfefficacy to teaching students with chronic illness. A survey was completed by 59 elementary and 44 junior high school teachers in Japan. Results indicated that the majority of teacher respondents perceived themselves as inadequate to teach students with chronic illness due to lack of practical knowledge and experience. A high proportion of respondents indicated that they had no academic training (62.1%) and no teaching experience (72.8%) for supporting students with chronic illness. On the other hand, there is a positive relationship between selfefficacy, anxiety level and academic training or teaching experience for supporting students with chronic illness. That is, teachers with practical experience teaching students with chronic illness in the classroom and teachers with more academic training in inclusive approaches demonstrated higher efficacy and lower anxiety than teachers without these experiences or with less training in inclusive teaching approaches. All teachers must be equipped with the extensive knowledge of how best to assist students with chronic illness. Additional efforts are needed to adequately support students with chronic illness in the regular education classroom.

研究論文（Articles）