Brief Report
The physical and psychosocial impact of a school-based running programme for adolescents with disabilities
J. Campagna, K. Czyszczon,
J. Little, C. Selby, L. Wick, D. Ferreira,
K. Oriel,
K. Czyszczon
Student, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorD. Ferreira
Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
K. Oriel
Department of Physical Therapy, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA, USA
Correspondence: Dr Kathryn Oriel, Department of Physical Therapy, Lebanon Valley College, 101 N. College Ave., Annville, PA 17003, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorJ. Campagna, K. Czyszczon,
J. Little, C. Selby, L. Wick, D. Ferreira,
K. Oriel,
K. Czyszczon
Student, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorD. Ferreira
Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science, Lander University, Greenwood, SC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
K. Oriel
Department of Physical Therapy, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA, USA
Correspondence: Dr Kathryn Oriel, Department of Physical Therapy, Lebanon Valley College, 101 N. College Ave., Annville, PA 17003, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Background
Adolescents with disabilities have fewer opportunities to participate in community-based fitness programmes. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a school-based running programme at a local middle school in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, on fitness and quality of life (QoL) in children with physical and cognitive disabilities in a life-skills classroom.
Methods
Nineteen adolescents with diagnosed disabilities including intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome were recruited from three life-skills classrooms to participate in a school-based running programme. The programme was designed to be implemented two times/week for 6 weeks by classroom teachers/aides. Physical therapy faculty and students developed the programme and assisted with implementation. Each session lasted 30 min, consisting of a warm-up and cooldown, relay races, games and timed runs. Pre- and post-test measures included physiological cost index (PCI) and Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™). Pre- and post-test data were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Each week participants also completed a training log to reflect on the activity for the day.
Results
Participants demonstrated significant improvements in PCI (P = 0.028) and the PedsQL™ (P = 0.008) following the running programme.
Conclusions
Results of this study suggest that participation in a 6-week school-based running programme may improve fitness and QoL in adolescents with disabilities.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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