The Development and Initial Validation of a Short, Self-Report Measure on Social Inclusion for People with Intellectual Disabilities-A Transnational Study.
Sport has been promoted as a means of increasing the social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities. Suitable tools for evaluating this claim are not readily available. The aim of this study was to develop a self-report tool for use by people with intellectual disabilities regarding the social inclusion they experience in sport and in the community. A three-phase process was used. In the first phase an item bank of questionnaire items was created and field-tested with 111 participants. Initial factor analysis identified 42 items which were further evaluated in Phase 2 with 941 participants from six European countries. Construct validity was established first through Exploratory …
‘Life is team play’: social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in the context of Special Olympics
This article provides insights from an empirical study on the meaning of social inclusion for Finnish athletes with intellectual disabilities (ID) who participate in Special Olympics (SO). A further objective was to explore the athletes’ perceptions of the role SO has played in their lives regarding their personal experiences of social inclusion. Data were transcripts of five focus group interviews carried out with a total of 31 participants during the last SO World Winter Games in 2017. The content was analysed with the aim of identifying the main themes in the athletes’ conversations about social inclusion. Three main themes were identified: inclusion as a contrast to past discrimination;…