Parent's motivations on sports participation of their children with Down’s syndrome in Russia

Abstract

Background: Regular physical exercises can improve physical and mental health and especially important for individuals with extensive disorders, such as Down’s syndrome. For the success of rehabilitation, it is necessary to involve the parents of children with Down’s syndrome in the process. By understanding the parents' motivation, a successful training program will be possible.Aim: This study is aimed to determine the importance degree of various parents’ motivations in sports participation of their children with Down’s syndrome.Method: A survey was conducted in 137 families from 22 regions of Russia in November 2016. The survey included 23 motivational statements and parents were asked to rate the importance of each statement on a scale of 1 to 10. The results were divided into 5 groups based on the importance of the motivational statements: “absolutely important”, “important”, “difficult to say”, “not important”, and “absolutely not important”. Statistical analysis was done using average values method. Result: Parents considered the following reasons to let their children participate in sports as “absolutely important”: to implement healthy and active lifestyle; to develop interaction skills in a group, independence, and dexterity; to improve the skills of large-scale body movements and coordination of movements; and to encourage socialization. None of the motivational statements were considered as “absolutely not important”.Conclusion: This study found that parents considered the majority of the motivational statements as important. Considering the parents’ motives will encourage the sports participation of children with Down’s syndrome.