Well-Being, Resilience and Social Support of Athletes with Disabilities: A Systematic Review

Behav Sci (Basel). 2023 May 8;13(5):389. doi: 10.3390/bs13050389.

Abstract

Sport for people with disabilities appears to play a positive role in the well-being, resilience and social support of athletes with disabilities. Thus, this systematic review aims to evaluate the effect of adapted sport on the well-being, resilience and social support in a population with disabilities. The Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus and SportDiscus databases were used, with several descriptors and Boolean operators. A total of 287 studies were identified through searching the databases. After the data extraction process, twenty-seven studies were included for analysis. In general, these studies show that adapted sport has a positive impact on the levels of well-being, resilience and social support resources for people with disabilities, contributing to their personal development, quality of life and integration into society. Considering the impact on the variables studied, these results are important to support and encourage the development of adapted sport.

Keywords: adapted sport; disabilities; inclusion; resilience; social support; well-being.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by National Funding through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I. P., under the project number UIDB/04748/2020 and UIDB/04045/2020.