Associations Between Perceived Social Support, Perceived Competence And Physical Activity In Hong Kong Children With Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused adverse impacts on physical activity (PA) and psychosocial health in children with disabilities. The aim of this study was to examine the associations among their perceived social support, perceived competence, and participation in PA, and to determine the predicting effects of perceived social support and perceived competence towards PA during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Participants were 291 children with a physician diagnosis of physical disabilities (PD) and intellectual disabilities (ID) aged 6-17 years. They were asked to complete measures that assessed their perceptions of social support, perceived competence, and participation in PA. RESULTS: Significant differences were found in age, BMI and perceived competence between children with PD and ID (ID>PD). BMI was the most significant co-founding variable (p = 0.001) in the total sample of participants. After controlling for demographic variables, perceived competence explained more significance (an additional 17% variance) for PA participation (p < 0.05), rather than social support in the total sample. The total variance explained by the model was 24%, F (2, 240) = 12.42, p < 0.001. No significance was found for their interaction effect. CONCLUSIONS: Larger predictions were found for PA on perceived competence in children with PD and ID. Perceived social supports are essential, but needs to specify the role of significant others, such as mothers/fathers, siblings/peers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Future studies should target on these predictors to inform the intervention design to encourage PA participation in children with disabilities in Hong Kong.