Football teams for people with intellectual disabilities living in the community: “it helps your self-esteem and that, don’t it?”
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIDOB-06-2017-0009 |
| Published date | 11 December 2017 |
| Pages | 201-211 |
| Date | 11 December 2017 |
| Author | Rose White,Katherine Lister,Kristian Northend,Stephen Moore,Kelly Rayner |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities,Offending behaviour,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Education,Special education/gifted education,Emotional/behavioural disorders |
Football teams for people with intellectual
disabilities living in the community:
“it helps your self-esteem and that, don’tit?”
Rose White, Katherine Lister, Kristian Northend, Stephen Moore and Kelly Rayner
Abstract
Purpose –People with intellectual disabilities (ID) can be vulnerable to developing mental health problems.
It has been found that participating in regular exercise can help to improve emotional well-being, both in
typically developing people and those with ID. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiences of
community clients with ID who have engaged in a football training programme, and the perceived impacts on
attitudes, mood and behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach –Interviews with seven patients from generic or forensic community ID
services were conducted. The transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Findings –Two master themes were identified from the interviews, “Striving”and “Togetherness”.
Originality/value –The most important factors related to taking part in the football programme were the
social, emotional and personal growth associated with being part of a team and general enjoyment of being
part of something. Although aspects of football knowledge and physical fitness were still evident, their impact
seemed to be less significant. The experience of football was overwhelmingly positive.
Keywords Football, Forensic, Intellectual disability, Offending, Community services, Fitness
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Benefits of physical activity
It is well documented that physical activity is closely intertwined with physical and
psychological health, and is a key component of a healthy lifestyle (World Health
Organisation, 200 3). As such, both WHO a nd the Department of He alth recommend that
individuals take 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week; citing that this pattern of
activity can help reduce obesity, prevent coronary heart disease, prevent or delay the onset of
type two diabetes, and prevent osteoporosis (Department of Health, 2004; World Health
Organisation, 2010). It is known that benefits of physical activity extend to psychological
health, including reducing the risk of depression and anxiety (Penedo and Dahn, 2005);
and improving perce ptions of health-rela ted quality of life and well- being (Bize et al., 2007;
Penedo and Dahn, 2005). Furthermore, participation in sports has been shown to benefit
psychosocial health, including increasing self-esteem and confidence, and improving social
skills, as well as impr ovements in ratings of m ood (Asztalos et al., 2009; Eime et al., 2010).
Team sports have been additionally associated with increased perceived social acceptance
(Eime et al., 2013). It appears that the physical health benefits of exercise are often
emphasised, but this wealth of research indicates that there are a vast number of psychological
benefits in additi on, including eff ects on mood, attitu des and behaviour .
Such psychological and social benefits of physical activity can be critical for motivation to engage
in activity, suggesting that physical benefits of exercise may not exist without concurrent
psychological benefits. Moreover, motivation to transform physical activity guidelines into action Received 19 June 2017
Accepted 28 July 2017
Rose White is a Healthcare
Support Worker at Tees,
Esk and Wear Valleys NHS
Foundation Trust,
Middlesbrough, UK and
Leeds and York Partnership
NHS Foundation Trust,
Leeds, UK.
Katherine Lister is an Assistant
Psychologist at Tees, Esk and
Wear Valleys NHS Foundation
Trust, Middlesbrough, UK.
Kristian Northend and
Stephen Moore are both
based at Tees, Esk and Wear
Valleys NHS Foundation Trust,
Middlesbrough, UK.
Kelly Rayner is a Clinical
Psychologist at Tees, Esk and
Wear Valleys NHS Foundation
Trust, Harrogate, UK.
DOI 10.1108/JIDOB-06-2017-0009 VOL. 8 NO. 4 2017, pp.201-211, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8824
j
JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND OFFENDING BEHAVIOUR
j
PAGE201
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