Dyslexia awareness in Croatia

Cilj rada bio je utvrditi razinu svjesnosti o disleksiji kod odraslih osoba u Republici Hrvatskoj te dobiti podatke o tome kako spol, dob i obrazovanje utječu na svjesnost o disleksiji i koji su to čimbenici koji utječu na ovakva znanja i stavove. Za postizanje ovog cilja korišten je Upitnik oblikovan za potrebe samog istraživanja. Ispitana je 101-a osoba, dobi od 20 do 65 godina, na području Grada Zagreba koja je doborovoljno prihvatila sudjelovati u istraživanju. Ispitani sudionici ukupno su riješili 72% upitnika i pokazali dostatnu količinu osviještenosti i temeljnih znanja o disleksiji. Ograničena znanja pokazana su na pitanjima vezanim uz obilježja disleksije kao i na pitanjima o podršci u obrazovanju te prevalenciji. Kao što je već spomenuto u prethodnim istraživanjima (Peer i Reid, 2001; Duranović, 2018), i u ovom istraživanju većina ispitanika disleksiju isključivo veže uz teškoće čitanja, dok je manje od polovine ispitanika svjesno o drugim obilježjima - poput teškoća snalaženja u vremenskom rasporedu (15,8%) i prostoru (40,6%). Korištenjem Mann Whitney U testa te Kruskal Wallis testa dobiveni su podaci o razlikama u rezultatima na Upitniku s obzirom na varijable dob, spol i obrazovanje. Značajne razlike u ukupnoj razini znanja o disleksiji vidljive su samo između različitih obrazovnih skupina, pri čemu se pokazalo da bolji rezultat ostvaruju osobe sa završenom višom razinom obrazovanja. Varijable dob i spol pokazale su se utjecajnima tek na nekima od pojedinačnih varijabli istraživanja.The goal of this research paper was to determine the level of dyslexia awareness amongst adults in Croatia, and also to acquire data on how gender, age and level of education affect the general dyslexia awareness. This was done by using a questionnaire that was created solely for the purpose of this research. The questionnaire was filled out by 101 consenting adults between the ages of 20 and 65 from the region of Zagreb. The inhabitants of Croatia displayed and average level of awareness and a basic knowledge about dyslexia, considering that they successfully solved about 72% of the questionnaire. Limited knowledge was shown on questions about the characteristics of dyslexia and also on questions about educational support, and its prevalence. As concluded in previous research papers on this matter (Peer and Reid, 2001; Duranović, 2018), this research also shows that most people identify dyslexia only with reading difficulties, whereas less than half of the respondents are conscious about such traits as difficulty with time management (15,8%) and a lack of spatial awareness (40,6 %). The data about differences in results with respect to such variables as age, gender and education was acquired by using the Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests. Significant differences in the overall level of awareness are observable only between groups with differing levels of education. Variables such as age and gender also proved influential but only on individual variables during the research. Further research on this topic, especially in Croatia and neighboring countries, is highly advised