Sports activities and psychophysical health of deaf and hard of hearing people

Abstract

<p>The participation of deaf and hard of hearing people in sports activities contributes to the improvement of the quality of life in all its domains, and compared to people with some other types of disabilities, deaf and hard of hearing people achieve higher scores in sports activities. Practicing sports activities improves physical health, mental state, degree of independence and social relationships. Sports activities have a positive effect on building and strengthening the self-esteem of individuals. Subjective experience and individual perception have a great influence on the quality of an individual’s life, therefore, self-esteem is a very important factor that contributes to this. The aim of this paper is to review the literature from the period 2000–2021 on the impact of sports activities on the psychophysical health of deaf and hard of hearing people. The subject of interest was: to determine the role of sports activities in the quality of life of deaf and hard of hearing people, as well as how they affect their level of self-esteem. The following search engines were used for the literature search: Ebscohost, ScienceDirect, Wiley Inter Science and SpringerLink, KoBSON, Google Scholar. The results of the literature review showed that sports activities contributed to the preservation and development of the overall psychophysical health of deaf and hard of hearing people. Participation in sports activities, whether recreational or professional in nature, has proven to be a significant factor in raising the level of self-esteem, alleviating symptoms of anxiety and stress. Participation in sports activities leads to better social functioning among peers and building an inclusive society.</p>