Psigologiese welstand by rolstoelatlete

Abstract

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the psychological well-being of wheelchair athletes differ from that of wheelchair persons who do not take part in sport/physical exercise. Since psychological well-being implies a focus on psychological strengths and resources, the salutogenic/fortigenic perspective was adopted to act as the metatheoretical perspective of this study. The nature of the salutogenic/fortigenic approach was described and compared to the traditional pathogenic perspective. On the theoretical level the nature of psychological well-being was analysed from the perspective of personology, recent theoretical models on psychological well-being and specific constructs hypothesised to be related to psychological well-being/health. Taking into consideration that which was found in the literature, and for the purposes of this study, the researcher defined psychological well-being as positive self-esteem, satisfaction with life, constructive coping, sense of coherence and constructive thinking. Empirical indications of the relationship between psychological well-being and participation in sport/physical exercise by (wheelchair) athletes was analysed. The main moderator variables that are associated with psychological well-being were also discussed. In the empirical study, a single cross-sectional ex post facto research design was employed. The study group (N=6 l) was an availability sample and consisted of white, coloured and black people of both sexes. The people were between the ages of 18 to 40 years. The experimental group (n=34) consisted of wheelchair athletes, and the control study (n=27) was represented by wheelchair persons who do not participate in any sport/physical exercise. The following measures were used in this study: Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) (Coopersmith, 1986), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larson & Griffin, 1985), Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) (Antonovsky, 1988), COPE (Carver, Scheier & Weintraub, 1989) and the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI) (Epstein, 1993). Descriptive

statistics (means and standard deviations) and Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients were presented for the Total Group. The groups were compared by means of a random block design (paring) in terms of gender, age, disability category and race. The results indicated that the wheelchair athletes and wheelchair persons who do not participate in any sport/physical exercise differ statistically significant on the following scales and subscales: SEI (self-esteem); SWLS (satisfaction with life); GCT (global constructive thinking); A (acceptance); PRG (positive reinterpretation and growth); AC ( active coping) and P (planning). The wheelchair athletes in this study consistently scored higher on each of these scales and sub scales and also scored lower on the ADD ( alcohol and drug dependance) sub scale. Thus the wheelchair athletes in this study have higher levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction, global constructive thinking, acceptance, positive reinterpretation and growth, active coping and planning, as well as lower levels of alcohol and drug dependance than the wheelchair persons who did not participate in any sport/physical activity. The conclusion was made that the psychological well-being of the wheelchair athletes in this study was higher than the psychological well-being of the wheelchair persons who did not participate in any sport/physical exercise. Recommendations for further research were made.