Research Article
Investigation of the Impact of Sports, Exercise and Recreation (ser) Participation on Psychosocial Outcomes in a Population of Veterans with Disabilities Using the Sports Outcome Research Tool and Comprehensive Uniform Survey (Sportacus). A Longitudinal Study
Justin Z Laferrier1,2,3*, Emily Teodorski2,3, Nathan Sprunger2,3, Rory A Cooper2,3,5 and Mark Schmeler31Department of Kinesiology, Physical Therapy Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs CT, USA
2Human Engineering Research Laboratories, VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Service and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
3Departments of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, USA
4Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, USA
5Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Justin Z Laferrier
University of Connecticut, 3107 Horsebarn Hill Rd
Storrs CT, PA, USA
Tel: 06269-1101
Fax: 401-261-5236
E-mail: justin.laferrier@uconn.edu
Received date: September 13, 2017; Accepted date: September 25, 2017; Published date: September 27, 2017
Citation: Laferrier JZ, Teodorski E, Sprunger N, Cooper RA, Schmeler M (2017) Investigation of the Impact of Sports, Exercise and Recreation (ser) Participation on Psychosocial Outcomes in a Population of Veterans with Disabilities Using the Sports Outcome Research Tool and Comprehensive Uniform Survey (Sportacus). A Longitudinal Study. J Nov Physiother 7:365. doi:10.4172/2165-7025.1000365
Copyright: © 2017 Laferrier JZ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of participation in sports, exercise and recreation (SER) on self-esteem, depression, posttraumatic growth and quality of life (QOL) in veterans with disabilities longitudinally at four time points.
Design: A convenience sample of 163 individuals (91 sports-participants and 72 non-participants) matched on disability type with a variety of disabilities took part in this longitudinal study. Variables of interest were: SER participation vs. non-participation, years of SER participation since onset of disability (less than one year, one to five years, five to ten years, and more than ten years), the type of activity they engaged in (individual activities or a combination of team and individual activities) and time (pre-event, immediately post-event, one month post-event, and three months post-event). Main outcome measures were self-esteem, depression, posttraumatic growth and QOL.
Results: SER participants had significantly higher self-esteem, posttraumatic growth and QOL, and significantly lower depression scores than non-participants. There were also significant differences found between the independent variables of: time, number of years participating in SER since onset of disability and type of activity engaged in and various outcome measures studied.
Conclusions: The results of this study support that participation in SER has positive effects on self-esteem, depression, posttraumatic growth, and QOL.
