Community Fitness Programs: What Is Available for Children and Youth with Motor Disabilities and What Do Parents Want?

ABSTRACT

Background: Physical activity is recognized as a rehabilitation approach for individuals with motor disabilities. Objectives: To determine whether community fitness programs were accommodating children and youth with motor disabilities, and to understand family perspectives on important outcomes related to fitness programs. Design: Telephone survey and qualitative interviews. Participants and settings: Representatives of 61 fitness programs/facilities and 13 parents of children with motor disabilities. Methods: Telephone survey (facilities) and qualitative interviews (parents). Results: 24.6% of programs reported lack of wheelchair accessibility. Only 9.8% of programs and facilities required their staff to have training to support individuals with disabilities. Parents discussed barriers, including lack of staff support and challenges with finding information about community programs. Parents focused on the social benefits of fitness programs. Conclusions/significance: Additional efforts toward reducing access barriers are needed. Parents’ focus on social outcomes has direct implications on the design and evaluation of fitness programs.

KEYWORDS. :

• accessibility
• community
• fitness
• motor disability

Notes

¹ One representative of 15 programs did not answer the question about outcome evaluation therefore n = 46.