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abstract:
Original article
The impact of a sports initiation program on quality of life, satisfaction, and self-efficacy in activities of daily living in individuals with spinal cord injury
Giulia Bevilacqua
1
,
Simone Tiberti
2
,
Claudio Pilati
2
,
Ilaria Calabrese
2
,
Annamaria Tamburro
2
,
Annamaria Servadio
2
,
Rachele Simeon
3, 4
,
Giovanni Galeoto
3, 5
,
Anna Berardi
3, 5
Advances in Rehabilitation
Online publish date: 2025/08/08
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Introduction
The aim of this study was to evaluate a structured sports initiation program for individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), assessing its impact on quality of life, satisfaction, and self-efficacy in activities of daily living. Material and methods The program of this quasi-experimental pre-post test study was developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team. During a 14-week period, participants had the opportunity to experiment six different Paralympic sports (Para archery, Para athletics, Boccia, wheelchair tennis, Para swimming, and wheelchair fencing). The outcome measures used have been administered at T0 (baseline) and T1 (14 weeks after) and were as follows: the Trunk Control Test (TCT), the Spinal Cord Independence Measure III Self Report (SCIM), the Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36), the Moorong Self Efficacy Scale, the Wheelchair Use Confidence Scale for Manual users (WheelCon-M). Wilcoxon’s rank test was used for statistical analysis. Results Of the included participants 66.8% had level of lesion D3 and D9, 46.7% had a complete SCI. Statistically significant improvements were observed across all outcome measures, except for trunk control. This included measures of functional independence, quality of life, self-efficacy, and wheelchair use confidence. Conclusions Results suggest the encouraging impact of this functional sports initiation program for people with SCI, which promotes not only functional improvements, particularly in the management of assistive devices, but also improvements in perceived independence, health-related quality of life, self-efficacy in daily activities, and wheelchair use confidence. The program enables participants to engage in challenging and motivating activities that simultaneously foster participation, social integration, well-being, and enjoyment. keywords:
Para swimming, Wheelchair tennis, Boccia, Wheelchair fencing, Para archery |
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