Increasing Motivation for Physical Activity among Individuals with Severe Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Individuals with severe intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) face one of the worst outcomes for physical activity among the general population, as they are faced with both cognitive and physical difficulties when participating in physical activities. Motivation for physical activity is also often found to be more difficult to self -initiate or be intrinsically motivated. The study aims to uncover themes in the barriers and difficulties that individuals with severe IDD face in initiating and sustaining physical activity, as well as strategies occupational therapists use to motivate this demographic to engage in such activities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with licensed occupational therapists (n=6) with a history of working with individuals with IDD and then qualitatively analyzed and coded for themes and commonalities using Excel. Results were categorized under two main themes: barriers to physical activity and the participants' approaches or techniques for increasing physical activity. The first theme was further broken down into categories outlining intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, and cultural barriers. The second theme was broken down into communication, motivation, external/public support, mindset/advice, and routine. The discovered themes can be used to bring greater awareness and present solutions to barriers in physical activity for individuals with IDD, as well as provide direction for research in the field of study regarding people living with severe IDD.