An Online Physical Activity Intervention for Youth With Physical Disabilities: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Physical activity (PA) interventions are limited in number and reach for youth with physical disabilities (YPD) who experience systemic barriers that may preclude their in-person participation. Further, a lack of theory in the development and evaluation of PA interventions impedes our understanding and replication of active components of behavior change. These limitations pose challenges in the effective promotion of PA in YPD. Theory-based and more inclusive methods of PA intervention delivery must be explored in our efforts to promote PA and overall health in YPD.Methods: A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of an online, 4-week social cognitive theory-based PA intervention for YPD. Intervention feasibility (implementation fidelity, intervention compliance, and intervention acceptability) was evaluated through manual documentation, weekly feedback questionnaires, and open-ended feedback at 1-month post-intervention. Targeted social cognitive (outcome expectations, self-efficacy [task, self-regulatory, barrier] and self-regulation) and PA behavior outcomes were self-reported at baseline and 1-week and 1-month post-intervention.Results: Sixteen YPD (Mage = 17.4 ± 2.7 years, 69% female) completed the study. Intervention feasibility was supported by high implementation fidelity (100%), high intervention compliance (>90%), and positive ratings on indicators of acceptability for all weeks of the intervention (weekly feedback questionnaire means ranging from 5.74 to 6.19 out of 7). Through open-ended feedback, participants indicated the intervention was easy to use and understand, favorably shifted their self-awareness and personal meaning of PA, and provided value and potential for future use pertaining to the learned self-regulation skills and strategies. Participants also provided formatting and content recommendations for intervention improvement. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed significant and large effect sizes for changes in participants' task (p = 0.01, n2p = 0.28) and barrier (p = 0.02, n2p = 0.24) self-efficacy, goal-setting and planning and scheduling behaviors (ps < 0.001, n2ps = 0.42), and self-reported PA behavior (p = 0.02, n2p = 0.26).Conclusions: An online PA intervention for YPD is feasible and may offer potential benefit through the enhancement of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and PA behavior. Continued research is necessary to understand the efficacy and longer-term outcomes of online, theory-based interventions for YPD as a PA promotion strategy.

Program evaluation of a virtual physical activity program for individuals with disabilities

“…When combining the low at-home activity guide adherence with the fact that the Zoom session activities focused more heavily on social, rather than physical, engagement it is possible that there was simply not enough motor skill and physical activity engagement for participants to improve their physical literacy and physical activity levels. While a recent study showed that online adapted programming was beneficial for physical activity promotion, there was also high program adherence by participants ( 20 ). The low program adherence seen in this study could have been a moderator in program efficacy.…”

“…More recently, virtual physical activity programming for individuals with disabilities has been investigated. A pilot study conducted by Sharma and colleagues ( 20 ) focused on the outcomes of a virtual adapted physical activity program for youth with physical disabilities, with results indicating high program compliance, social cognitive benefits, and increased self-reported physical activity behaviours among participants. The use of online pre-recorded physical activity interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities was also found to be a feasible program option that presents benefits to physical activity participation and overall health for its participants ( 21 ).…”

“…program altering program delivery, the gap in the literature provided little support in the creation or expected program outcomes. Recent studies provided positive feedback on virtual adapted physical activity programs ( 20 , 21 ); however, as online adapted programming is a relatively new area of research, the full impact of virtual programming is unknown. Therefore, this program evaluation examined the feasibility and impact of using an online platform to deliver adapted physical activity programming to improve participant physical literacy and physical activity.…”