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Health Promotion Across the Life Span for Special Olympics Athletes
Rebecca Ralston1, Ashlyn Smith1, Alicia Dixon-Ibarra1
1Rebecca Ralston, Ashlyn Smith, and Alicia Dixon-Ibarra are with Special Olympics International, Washington, DC.
Special Olympics uses a life span health promotion strategy for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This approach improves motor development and cardiovascular health through scalable programming.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Promotion
- Disability Studies
Background:
- Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) face significant barriers to health equity.
- Special Olympics programming aims to promote healthy lifestyles for people with IDD.
- A life span approach is foundational to addressing these health disparities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a life span health promotion strategy in Special Olympics.
- To assess the impact of integrated interventions on health outcomes for individuals with IDD.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of the Young Athletes and fitness programming interventions.
- Utilizing a global, life span approach to health promotion.
- Evaluation of program outcomes on motor development and cardiovascular health.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated improvements in motor development among participants.
- Significant enhancements in cardiovascular health were observed.
- Scalable models proved effective in improving health outcomes for people with IDD.
Conclusions:
- The life span approach is a successful strategy for health promotion in individuals with IDD.
- Integrated interventions like Young Athletes and fitness programming are key to improving health.
- Scalable programming models can effectively enhance health outcomes for the IDD population.
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