What are the barriers and facilitators to participation in active recreation for people with learning disabilities? A scoping review

Abstract

Accessible Summary Hobbies that are active can be a way of improving physical and mental well‐being for people with learning disabilities. Choice, tailoring an activity to a person's needs and companionship between people with learning disabilities and their caregivers can facilitate participation in hobbies that are active. Disregard for a person's physical and cognitive capabilities, and for their environmental or carer circumstances, can hinder participation in hobbies that are active. AbstractBackgroundActive recreation denotes engagement with meaningful and rewarding activities that can improve physical and mental well‐being for everyone; however, there are specific challenges to participation in active recreation for people with learning disabilities.AimTo understand what hinders and what enables participation in active recreation for people with learning disabilities.MethodUsing a scoping review framework, we retrieved relevant literature by searching MEDLINE 1946 (Ovid), PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete (EBSCO), Scorpus, PubMed and Web of Science. We extracted data, charted and synthesised them using the Model of Human Occupation (Kielhofner, 2008) and the social–ecological model (Boulton, Horne & Todd, 2017).FindingsNineteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Key barriers identified in the studies included caregiver/coach knowledge and skill, caregiver resources, relational, environmental and individual capabilities. Key facilitators included choice, needs‐based tailored activities, positive relationships, consideration of cognitive and functional ability, motivational incentives and policy and organisational factors.ConclusionsParticipation in active recreation involves a complex interaction between individuals with learning disabilities, their caregivers and their wider organisational and community networks. This relationship warrants further exploration from the perspective of people with learning disabilities and their proxies, so that we can optimise how we design and deliver active recreational pursuits for this population.