Differences in patterns of participation in leisure activities in Swedish children with and without disabilities

To compare participation in leisure activities between Swedish children with and without disabilities and to examine whether age, gender, presence of disabilities, and mother's educational level influence participation.

A Swedish version of the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment was used to study the diversity, intensity, and enjoyment of participation in leisure activities of children aged 6 to 17 years. Fifty-five of the children had disabilities and 337 of the children did not have disabilities. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to explore the impact of age, gender, mother's level of education, and disability on the diversity, intensity, and enjoyment of leisure activities. A t-test for independent samples was used to compare the diversity and intensity of participation between children with and without disabilities.

The multiple regression analysis explained 4-36% of the variance of diversity, intensity, and enjoyment. Children with disabilities participated with higher diversity, but with less intensity, than children without disabilities. Younger children had higher levels of enjoyment.

Children with disabilities participated in several different activities, but the presence of a disability was associated with lower intensity of participation. The low explanatory value of the investigated variables indicates that the combined effect of several variables needs to be taken into consideration when designing participation interventions. Implications for Rehabilitation Children with disabilities participated in a high number of activities but with a low intensity compared to children without disabilities. Analysis of the children's personal and environmental barriers and facilitators is critical to providing the therapist with ideas about which strategies should be implemented to increase participation. Assessment and intervention may need to focus on methods for supporting the children's autonomy and on creating goals for intervention that focus on activities that are determined by the child based on their interests and desires. Age and gender influenced the variance in the diversity and enjoyment outcome and the presence of disability was associated with the intensity outcome. Age, gender, parental educational level, and disability only explain a small proportion of the variance in leisure participation patterns. Thus, client-centred and individually tailored interventions are needed that are based on the individual's unique situation.