Adolescents with disabilities participate in the shopping mall: facilitators and barriers framed according to the ICF

Abstract

Purpose: Community participation is restricted for youth with disabilities. The mall is an important gathering place where adolescents often socialise and develop community living skills, yet participation may be restricted. The aim of this study was to evaluate the facilitators and barriers to participation in a shopping mall through the perspectives of adolescents with disabilities.

Method: Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with adolescents aged 12–19 years with a physical and/or sensory disability. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and coded following a template analysis using the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF).

Results: Eleven youth (six females, mean age = 17.0 years) participated. Medical conditions included visual impairment, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, osteogenesis imperfecta and congenital amputations. Six themes were identified by the adolescents: what the shopping mall means to me, physical environment, transportation, social factors, attitudes and the person. The majority of themes mapped to the ICF’s ‘environmental factors’.

Conclusions: Facilitators and barriers identified were either generic or disability-specific, implying that some modifications to shopping malls may be beneficial across disability types. Changes made to the physical, social and attitudinal environment are required to enable full participation of youth with disabilities within a shopping mall and other built environments of high public access.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The meaning of the shopping mall according to youth with disabilities includes socialisation, shopping, getting out of the home and employment.

• The majority of themes mapped to ‘environmental factors’ indicating that most obstacles to participation are caused by environmental barriers.

• Facilitators and barriers identified were either generic or disability-specific implying that some modifications to shopping malls may be beneficial across disability types.

• Changes made to the physical, social and attitudinal environment are required to enable full participation of youth with disabilities within a shopping mall.

Keywords:

• Environment
• hearing impairment
• participation
• physical disability
• qualitative study
• visual impairment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Kathleen Montpetit, OT; Michaela Durigova, PhD; Patricia Grier, RN; Rollande Grondin, OT and Walter Wittich, PhD, for their recruitment efforts. Much appreciation is given to Chris Saunders and Eden Oliel for transcribing the interviews. We acknowledge the help of Vasiliki Darsaklis, OT and Sarah Cachecho, OT for the forward–backward translation, and Guylaine Bédard and Carla Briffault for visual artwork and formatting from the Shriners Hospital for Children – Canada. Thank you to Delphine Labbé and Dr. Bonnie Swaine for the interviewing materials and to Hiba Zafran, OT and Julia Krane, PhD for their methodological insights. Many thanks to the adolescents and their parents for participating in this study.

Declaration of interest

This study did not receive any outside funding. Noémi Dahan-Oliel received doctoral support from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal – Rehabilitation Living Lab, funded by the Fonds de Recherche Québec-Santé (# 24499). This funding agency did not play a role in the study, and the authors report no declarations of interest.

This manuscript has not been previously published and has not been submitted elsewhere.