Investigation of sports participation motivation in people with disabilities: a cross-sectional study of individuals with physical and hearing impairments

Abstract

While reading the literature, it is seen that there are not enough studies on the motivation of disabled individuals to participate in sports. This study aims to examine the sports participation motivations of hearing impaired and physically disabled athletes. This study was a cross-sectional study. The research group of the study consists of physically and hearing-impaired individuals between the ages of 18–47. The participants of this research group consisted of 253 volunteer disabled individuals, 150 of whom were men and 103 of whom were women. Sports participation motivation scale was used for disabled individuals. The scale consists of 3 dimensions and is a 5-point Likert type. The results of the study showed that hearing-impaired people have a higher high school rate and physically person with disability have a higher bachelor’s degree rate, but the primary education rate did not change between hearing and physically person with disability. Physical activity participation differed between hearing and physically person with disability, and it was observed that hearing-impaired people participated in more physical activities. The level of well-being of the physically disabled was significantly better than the hearing impaired. As conclusion, it is observed that the people with the lowest motivation to participate in sports are primary school graduates and those with high welfare have a high motivation to participate in sports.