Disability Type and Constraints to Leisure-Time Physical Activity in Türkiye

Little is known about the effect of disability type on perceived physical activity (PA) constraints. Investigating the leisure-time PA constraint differences across disability groups would increase the possibility of PA participation, and reverse the physical inactivity trend for disabled populations.

The purpose was to examine perceived PA constraint differences between individuals with 3 different disability types, which are visual, hearing, and physical disabilities.

The study sample comprised 305 individuals with a visual disability, 203 individuals with a physical disability, and 144 individuals with hearing loss. Leisure Time PA Constraints Scale-Disabled Individuals Form, consisting of 32 items and 8 subscales, was used as for data collection. Data were analyzed with a 3 × 2 two-way multivariate analysis of variance.

Findings indicated a significant main effect of the disability group (Pillai V = 0.025; F16,639 = 10.132, P < .001, η2 = .112), gender (Pillai V = 0.250; F8,639 = 2.025, P < .05, η2 = .025), and interaction between the disability group and gender (Pillai V = 0.069; F161,280 = 2.847, P < .001, η2 = .034). The follow-up analyses of variance indicated significant differences in facility quality, social environment, family, willpower, time, and ability perception scores between disability groups, P < .05.

People with different disabilities have different perceived leisure-time PA barriers with respect to environmental, social, and psychological factors; generally, disabled females perceived more barriers to leisure-time PA. Policies and intervention protocols for disabled individuals should directly address the disability-specific need of individuals to increase leisure-time PA participation.