Long-term outdoor recreation program for adults with intellectual disabilities: Feasibility and effects

While people with intellectual disabilities tend to refrain from physical activity, outdoor physical activity programs increase motivation to engage in physical activity.

Eighty adults with intellectual disabilities participated in a 12-month outdoor physical activity program. Attendance was used to assess feasibility. Aerobic capacity (6-min walk test), lower extremity endurance (30-s chair stand), and mobility (timed up and go) were assessed at three-time points: before, during, and after the program. Six interviews were also conducted with six staff members and participants.

The physical activity program was feasible, with all six groups completing the year-long activity. The six-minute walk and timed-up-and-go tests improved significantly. The qualitative analysis indicates the program's strengths (instructors' qualities and programs' social component) and weaknesses (dependency on weather and bureaucracy).

Among adults with intellectual disabilities, a long-term outdoor physical activity program is feasible as a means for increasing aerobic capacity and improving mobility ability.