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Barriers and facilitators of sports in D utch P aralympic athletes: An explorative study
Author(s) -
Jaarsma E. A.,
Geertzen J. H. B.,
Jong R.,
Dijkstra P. U.,
Dekker R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/sms.12071
Subject(s) - facilitator , athletes , interquartile range , wheelchair , psychology , medicine , physical therapy , social psychology , surgery , world wide web , computer science
The purpose of this study was to gain insight in barriers and facilitators of sports in paralympic athletes. An online questionnaire was distributed through the N etherlands O lympic C ommittee and N ational S ports C onfederation to determine personal and environmental barriers and facilitators of sports participation. The I nternational C lassification of F unctioning, D isability and H ealth model and theory of planned behavior were used to respectively categorize the results in environmental and personal factors, and attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Seventy‐six D utch P aralympic athletes completed the questionnaire (51% response rate). Barriers and facilitators experienced by ambulant and wheelchair athletes were compared. Most frequently mentioned personal barrier was dependency of others (22%), while most frequently mentioned environmental barrier was lack of sports facilities (30%). Wheelchair athletes mentioned more barriers (median = 3, interquartile range: 0.5–6), than ambulant athletes (median = 1.0,interquartile range:0.0–3.0, P = 0.023). One‐third of the athletes did not experience any barriers. Most frequently mentioned personal facilitators to initiate sports participation were fun (78%), health (61%), and competition (53%). Most frequently mentioned environmental facilitator was social support (40%). This study indicated that barriers of sport were mostly environmental, while facilitators were usually personal factors. Attitude and subjective norm were considered the most important components for intention to participation in sports. The facilitators outweighed the barriers and kept the athletes being active in sports.