Teacher self-efficacy and acceptability of behavioral interventions as factors in teachers' willingness to consult with psychologists

Diane Virginia Bowser, Fordham University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether general teacher self-efficacy, personal teacher self-efficacy, and teacher acceptability of behavioral interventions predicted teachers, willingness to consult with school psychologists about students exhibiting mild behavioral problems. Two hundred six regular education elementary school teachers from kindergarten through sixth grade in a large, urban school district voluntarily completed a three-part questionnaire and demographics sheet. The first questionnaire, the Teacher Efficacy Scale, was used to determine the level of teacher self-efficacy. Both general teacher self-efficacy and personal teacher self-efficacy were studied in the current investigation. The second questionnaire, the Intervention Rating Profile-15, was used to determine the acceptability of behavioral interventions. The third questionnaire, developed especially for this study by the researcher and field tested prior to its use in the current investigation, was the Consultation Questionnaire. This instrument contained 10 vignettes composed of to four to five sentences describing of students, mild behavioral problems in the classroom setting to determine teachers, willingness to consult with the school psychologist. Pearson correlation coefficients and stepwise methods of multiple regression were used to test the hypotheses for the predictor variables and to determine if relationships existed between the predictor variables (general teacher self-efficacy, personal teacher self-efficacy, and acceptability of behavioral interventions) and the criterion variable (willingness to consult). Teachers with high levels of general teacher self-efficacy expressed low willingness to consult. There was no significant relationship between personal teacher self-efficacy and willingness to consult. Teachers with high levels of general teacher self-efficacy expressed acceptability of behavioral interventions. Teachers with high levels of general teacher self-efficacy and high levels of acceptability of behavioral interventions expressed a willingness to consult with school psychologists. The results of this study emphasize that knowing a teacher's acceptability of behavioral interventions and whether the teacher expressed willingness to consult could assist school psychologists. This information could determine which teachers would maintain their students in general education to address mild behavioral problems instead of immediately referring their students to special education programs.

Subject Area

Educational psychology|Elementary education

Recommended Citation

Bowser, Diane Virginia, "Teacher self-efficacy and acceptability of behavioral interventions as factors in teachers' willingness to consult with psychologists" (1999). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9938894.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9938894

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