Evaluation of Physical Activities of Physically Disabled Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the 7-day exercise and physical activity levels of physically disabled athletes located in all geographical regions of Turkey and to examine the factors affecting this. The Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with a Physical Disability was applied as an online survey. The study group consisted of 224 physically disabled athletes, including orthopedic standing, orthopedic wheelchair, visually and hearing impaired athletes. In the analyses, Mann- Whitney U test for independent groups in binary categorical variables; the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for triple categorical variables. One-Way Analysis of Variance for the Obstacle Type variable, Post-Hoc multiple comparison test was applied for significant differences and Tamhane’s T2 Test was used, one of the non-homogeneous Post-Hoc tests. When the 7-day physical activity status of physically disabled individuals is examined; It was determined that they participated in the activity situations in the questions in 3 subcategories for less than 1 hour. It was determined that social media had the highest score in the orientation variables and there was a significant
difference between the school/physical education teacher and social media. In the analysis made on the variables of disability types, it was found that there was a significant difference between hearing and orthopedic wheelchair disabled people in repair and gardening work.
As a result, it is thought that more licensed athletes should be trained and their participation in sports competitions should be supported in order to enable physically disabled athletes to participate in sports activities in their daily lives, and that individuals can lead a healthy life by increasing their physical activities.