The sport experiences of blind or partially sighted people and strategies to support their quality participation: A scoping review

Programmers, coaches, and other supporters play integral roles in fostering the quality participation (QP) of blind and partially sighted people in sport. However, there is a dearth of information available to sport organizations regarding the provision of quality programming for blind and partially sighted people. Informed by the Quality Parasport Participation Framework, we conducted a scoping review to explore the current body of literature related to the sport participation of blind and partially sighted people and the support strategies associated with quality experiences. After searching four databases, two independent reviewers screened a total of 1245 studies against our inclusion criteria (e.g., peer-reviewed, English) and identified 29 articles that met our criteria. Engaging with the collected literature, we synthesized findings related to general study characteristics and the quality sport experiences of blind and partially sighted people. Conducting primarily inductive analysis, we then generated three principles related to the provision of quality sport programming for blind and partially sighted people, operationalized in 33 distinct strategies, through which coaches can foster the six experiential elements of QP. Additionally, we constructed 16 acute and long-term outcomes resulting from the experience of QP in sport for blind and partially sighted athletes. This project contributes to the existing literature regarding the sport experiences of blind and partially sighted athletes and the strategies that foster QP for diverse athletes. These findings will be disseminated to various sports organizations to support the development and provision of quality sport programming for blind or partially sighted people.