Quality of Life of People with Disabilities from Sport Participation Point of View

Abstract

Summary The aim of the study was to compare the satisfaction with quality of life indicators (QoLI) and quality of life domains (QoLD) scores between people with physical disabilities (PPD) and people who are deaf or hard of hearing (PD/HH) from sport participation point of view. The study included 315 individuals with PPD (n = 150; male = 76) and PD/HH (n = 165; male = 85) divided into two groups of those who are regularly participating in sport and those who are not participating in any sport activity in their leisure. The second part of the Subjective Quality of Life Analysis (S.QUA.L.A.) was used. The Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the differences in 23 QoLI and 5 QoLD between PPD and PD/HH from sport participation point of view and student’s two-sample t-test was used to compare overall quality of life (QoL). We found that PD/HH who are participating regularly in sport presented significantly higher satisfaction with 7 evaluated QoLI and with all 5 QoLD. Overall QoL score was significantly higher (p < .01) in PD/HH. In the group of people who are not participating in sport we found significantly higher satisfaction with 13 QoLI in PD/HH and with 8 QoLI in PPD. Satisfaction with 4 QoLD was significantly higher in PD/HH and only with domain (physical health) were significantly higher satisfied PPD (p < .01). Overall QoL score did not show significant differences between groups of people with disabilities who are not participating in any sport. The results of our study confirmed that PD/HH have significantly higher QoL comparing PPD no matter if they participating in sport or not. This evaluation measured by S.QUA.L.A shows that it is a suitable tool to asses QoL in people with different kinds of disabilities.