Parents’ Beliefs About Physical Activity for Their Children With Visual Impairments

in Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

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Luis Columna Syracuse University

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Denzil A. Streete Yale University

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Samuel R. Hodge The Ohio State University

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Suzanna Rocco Dillon Texas Woman’s University

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Beth Myers Syracuse University

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Michael L. Norris Syracuse University

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Tiago V. Barreira Syracuse University

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Kevin S. Heffernan Syracuse University

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.2017-0084
Keywords:
blindness/visual impairments; parental involvement; physical activity interventions; theory of planned behavior
In Print:
Volume 35: Issue 4
Page Range:
361–380
Restricted access

Despite having the desire to become physically active as a family, parents of children with visual impairments often lack the skills and resources needed to provide appropriate physical activities (PAs) for their children. The purpose of this study was to explore the intentions of parents of children with visual impairments toward including their children in PAs after participating in a PA program. In this descriptive qualitative study, the participants were 10 parents of children with visual impairments. A series of workshops were designed to provide parents with the skills and resources needed to promote PA for their family. Upon completion of the workshops, parents took part in one-on-one semistructured interviews that were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using a thematic line-by-line process. Two interdependent themes emerged from the data analyses: (a) eye-opening experiences and (b) transformed, more hopeful, and optimistic outlook. The results revealed that through the PA intervention, parents learned teaching strategies that were intended to increase their PA opportunities and garnered resources that allowed them to teach their children to participate in PA.

Columna, Myers, Norris, Barreira, and Heffernan are with the School of Education, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. Streete is with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Hodge is with the Dept. of Human Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Dillon is with the Dept. of Kinesiology, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX.

Columna (lcolumna@syr.edu) is corresponding author.
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