Self-Efficacy and Physical Activity Participation of Students with Intellectual Disabilities in the Vocational High School Division of a Special Education School

• Main Authors: Chi, Chun-Wu, 紀俊伍
• Other Authors: Huang, Yueh-Guey
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/b2u5tg

碩士 === 臺北市立大學 === 休閒運動管理學系碩士班 === 105 === Because of the widespread recognition of the value of human rights, society increasingly respects the rights of minority groups. The social support received by people with disabilities is also increasingly diverse, encouraging them to participate in physical activities that are regarded as a critical part of active rehabilitation; participation in physical activities not only improves physical and mental health, but also generates opportunities for physical exercise, social interaction, and mental growth, thereby enhancing the self-efficacy of people with disabilities as well as reducing their level of disability. This study examined the relationship between personal background, self-efficacy, and physical activity participation of students with intellectual disabilities in the vocational high school division of a special education school in Taiwan. Purposive sampling was used to select 139 students with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities from the National Taichung Special Education School in 2016. A self-compiled “self-efficacy and physical activity participation questionnaire” was used for face-to-face interviews; and 139 questionnaires were returned. The data were analyzed using statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, and stepwise regression analysis. The research results and the conclusions are as follows: 1. Students with mild intellectual disabilities received significantly higher scores in “performance accomplishments” than did students with moderate intellectual disabilities; in comparison to classmates or friends, when the “companion for participation of physical activity” was a teacher, the subjects received significantly higher scores in “performance accomplishments”; subjects whose “educational level of mother” was high school or vocational high school received significantly higher scores in “verbal persuasion” than did those whose “education level of mother” was intermediate or unknown level. 2. In comparison to female students with intellectual disabilities, male students with intellectual disabilities received significantly higher scores in “frequency of physical activity participation”; the scores for “frequency of physical activity participation” were significantly higher when the “companion for physical activity participation” was a classmate or friend than when he or she was teacher. 3. “Verbal persuasion” had predictive power for “frequency of physical activity participation;” that is, the higher the score for verbal persuasion, the more frequently the student with an intellectual disability participated in physical activities. In summary, this paper proposes the following directions for subsequent research and recommendations for parents, teachers, and schools. 1. Quantitative research can be used in subsequent studies, supplemented with qualitative interviews; requesting students with mild intellectual disabilities from the resource class of regular high schools or vocational high schools as research participants was recommended. 2. Parents should increase interaction with their children to provide greater positive verbal persuasion and encouragement. 3. Schools and teachers should provide and plan more diverse physical activities in accordance with students’ level of disabilities. They should also encourage students to interact with peers and plan group physical activity classes to assist students in cultivating friendship among peers. They should emphasize that participation in physical activities must not be limited to a specific gender. Thus, female students with intellectual disabilities should be encouraged to participate in various physical activities.