The Role of Sport Coaches in Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Athletes with Developmental Disabilities

Background: Children and adults with disabilities are widely acknowledged to have poorer health and emotional wellbeing than their non-disabled peers, which is further compounded by less access to health services and health-promoting activities. A relatively untried solution is to mobilize community initiatives such as sports to promote better health. Method: Special Olympics (SO) is an international sports organization present in over 200 countries and jurisdictions, engaging with just under four million athletes with intellectual disabilities annually. Research on the perceptions of sports coaches around incorporating health promotion within their sports training has been scarce. Likewise, little attention has been paid to identifying athletes’ understanding of what health means to them and actions that would make them healthier. A qualitative, descriptive study was conducted with eight national SO programs involving 62 coaches and 47 athletes. Group interviews were conducted via Zoom and a thematic content analysis was made of their responses. Results: In all countries, coaches and athletes agreed that the most common needs were healthy eating, healthy weight and exercise. Good mental wellbeing and sleeping well were also named. Ideas were sought from both sets of participants regarding how coaches could assist their athletes to attain better health and the barriers they might face in doing so. Conclusions: Three main conclusions emerged. Athletes and coaches were aware of health deficits and knew of ways to reduce them. Both appreciated the contribution that coaches could make through motivating athletes and providing training activities but were dependent on suitable resources being available to them. Engagement with families and available health and social care services was essential. Health-oriented, sporting activities offer promise in improving the health and wellbeing of persons with developmental disabilities, particularly in less affluent countries with fewer health professionals and poorly developed primary care services.