Promoting physical activity in everyday life of people with intellectual disabilities: An intervention overview

Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities show significantly lower levels of physical activity than the general population in respect to all consequences for health. A positive effect of physical activity on health preservation has been proven, but interventions for physical activity in everyday life seem to be rare for people with intellectual disabilities. Based on a previously conducted scoping review the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist was prepared. This article describes and compares physical activity interventions in everyday life for individuals with intellectual disabilities with the aim to of identifying successful strategies and areas for improvement. The 12 included interventions are heterogeneous, but commonalities and similarities can be identified. There are suggestions for successful strategies to implement physical activity interventions. However, much information could not be found. The promotion of healthier lifestyles is important to improve the overall health in this population.

“With Enthusiasm and Energy throughout the Day”: Promoting a Physically Active Lifestyle in People with Intellectual Disability by Using a Participatory Approach

“…“No, swimming not so often now, because the supervisors are not educated as lifeguards.” [ 13 ] (p. 201).…”

“…The conceptualization of the presented intervention is based on these criteria and on the results of the literature review which has been conducted at the beginning of the research project [ 15 ]. Here, only 11 interventions could be included that are integrated into the living environment and address the promotion of physical activity (and self-management) [ 13 ]. While almost all interventions included multimodal approaches, user involvement in intervention development was described in only four studies.…”

“…The focus of the project discussion was on how health related information is received and how health-related decisions are made. Here there seems to be a major potential for developing interventions, which is usually not mentioned in article describing this process [ 13 ].…”

“…Nutsch et al [ 13 ] describe key factors of effective interventions that aim to promote physical activity in the everyday life of people with intellectual disability: (a) nearly all successful interventions were multi-component interventions and applied on different levels; (b) participation of intervention users and pre-intervention needs assessment; (c) relevance to everyday life; (d) interventions are related to individuals with intellectual disabilities and address the whole organization including the caregivers; (e) using a combination of education sessions and practical training. Target group-oriented educational materials or technical devices should be used.…”

“…Applying participatory approaches is also an essential factor. A scoping review investigating the state of the art in physical activity interventions for people with intellectual disabilities [ 13 ] reveals that only a few of the existing interventions are integrated into the daily living environment of the target group. Further, it confirms Willems et al [ 14 ], who criticize existing interventions for people with intellectual disabilities which usually do not focus on sustainable lifestyle change and do not sufficiently consider the perspective of the users.…”