Assessing the Support Needs of People With Disability Wanting to Participate in Physical Activity: A Scoping Review

Regular participation in physical activity (PA) has been linked to improved health and well-being outcomes. People with disability, however, are faced with many barriers and often require support to participate. This scoping review aimed to understand how the support needs of people with disability wanting to participate in PA are assessed. A scoping review was conducted as per the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) extension for Scoping Reviews, which involved the review of four databases. A total of 35 papers met the inclusion criteria for this review, which identified 11 standardized assessment tools. All tools measured support needs within a general health and participation assessment and included items relevant to PA. No tools were found specific to PA participation. This review suggests that a PA-specific assessment tool would be valuable in measuring the support needs of people with disability with a focus on participation-based outcomes.