Metric invariance and psychometric properties of assessment of attitudes toward inclusion of students with disabilities (AISDPE) in Physical Education

Introduction: Despite progress in inclusion, prejudices related to people with disabilities continue to emerge. Attitudes towards disability affect the perception and behaviour of other students, ensuring full inclusion that enhances the experience of students with functional diversity. Objective: The aim of this study is to analyse the psychometric properties, as well as the metric invariance and convergent validity of the "The Attitudes towards Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Physical Education" (AISDPE) in secondary school students from a region of southeastern Spain. Methodology: exploratory and confirmatory analyses, as well as multigroup analyses and test-retest techniques were carried out on a sample of 992 students. Results: showed a seventeen-item bifactor structure with excellent goodness-of-fit and reliability indices. In addition, measurement invariance was confirmed for all demographic variables included in the analysis. Finally, convergent found significant associations with another unifactorial tool employed to assess attitudes toward disability in Physical Education classes. Conclusion: this research has found excellent properties in an inexpensive and quick-to-use tool that allows exploring the attitudes toward disability of secondary students, allowing the adaptation of possible interventions and programs to be developed in the classroom.