Competing against COVID-19: what about the mental health problems of athletes with disabilities?

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Although there is growing interest in athletes’ mental health (MH), there is a paucity of research exploring MH in athletes with disabilities (AWD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological state of AWD.

Materials and Methods

An online survey including demographic questions, SARS-CoV-2-related questions, and standardized scales assessing depression, anxiety, stress, coronavirus anxiety (CAS), and nonspecific psychological distress was distributed to AWD.

Results

A total of 362 athletes (183 AWD) participated in the study (response rate 31.2%). AWD infected with SARS-CoV-2 reported higher depression, anxiety, and CAS scores than AWD not infected with SARS-CoV-2 (Z = −2.10, ES = 0.15 Z = −3.45, ES = 0.25; Z = −2.43, ES = 0.18; respectively). Female AWD reported higher anxiety scores compared to males (Z = −2.25, ES = 0.16). Depression (Z = −2.80, ES = 0.20), stress (Z = −2.12, ES = 0.15) and K-10 (Z = −2.02, ES = 0.14 scores of individual sport AWD were higher than team sports AWD.

Conclusion

MH problems in AWD were associated with a wide range of variables such as being infected with SARS-CoV-2, female gender, competing in an individual sport, and having performance concerns. In light of these results, MH assessment should be undertaken for AWD to ensure appropriate and timely intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychological state
• Disabled athletes
• Paralympics
• SARS CoV-2
• Sports medicine

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs. Nazlı Deniz Öz for her assistance with the data analysis.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The study was approved by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health, and the local ethics committee (ETK00-2021-0115).