Shaping Meaningful Movement in Community-Based Contexts: Practitioner Approaches to Facilitating Physical Literacy Development Inclusively for All

To explore how practitioners in community-based physical activity programs facilitate physical literacy development inclusively for individuals experiencing disability and how they shape conditions for meaningful movement experiences. Guided by interpretive constructivism, interpretive description, and ecological dynamics, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 practitioners across three purposively selected community-based cases. Within-case and cross-case analyses were used to identify recurring dimensions of practice. Four interrelated dimensions were identified: Power in Partnership, Empowerment by Design, Tailored for Success, and Holistic Harmony. Across cases, meaningful experiences were described as personally relevant, enjoyable, socially safe, autonomy-supportive, and responsive to embodied needs, goals, and pacing. Inclusive facilitation depended not on community settings being inherently inclusive, but on practitioners' ongoing negotiation of communication, sensory, social, logistical, and organizational constraints through collaboration, adaptation, and ethically responsive decision-making. Facilitating physical literacy development inclusively is best understood and approached as a relational, context-sensitive, and environmentally negotiated process. Findings highlight that meaningful movement experiences are influenced by social, affective, and institutional conditions, and they point to practical implications for practitioner preparation, program design, and evaluation in community settings.