Increased Motivation for Physical Activity among Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities
Individuals with severe intellectual or developmental disabilities face one of the worst outcomes for physical activity among the general population, at the intersection of cognitive and physical difficulties in participating in physical activities. Motivation for this physical activity is also often found to be more difficult to self initiate or be intrinsically motivated. The study aims to discover themes in the barriers and difficulties as well as strategies occupational therapists use to increase motivation for and time spent physically active for individuals with severe intellectual or developmental disabilities. Semi structured interviews were conducted with licensed occupational therapists with a history of working with individuals with IDD and then qualitatively analyzed and coded for themes and commonalities using the software NVIVO. Results are currently being analyzed. The themes discovered can be used to bring greater awareness and solutions to barriers in physical activity for these individuals, as well as increase direction for research in this field of study within the severe category of IDD.