[Objective] This study examined influences on activity satisfaction of members with mental disabilities and their sports coaches who participated in sports for people with mental disabilities (referred to below as participants). Furthermore, this study also aimed to verify if sports for people with mental disabilities played an important role for the participants, focusing on relations between activity satisfaction and participants’ roles or images of sports for people with mental disabilities.
[Methods] Subjects of this study were participants who participated in sports for people with mental disabilities in the Tohoku region. This was a cross-sectional study with a survey conducted using online questionnaires and/or mailing.
The total number of returned questionnaires was 75. All questionnaires were checked, and only valid responses were used for data analysis (73 of 75 were valid). The Activity Satisfaction Score consisted of three factors of activity satisfaction: team activity which the participants belonged to, organizational management, and relationships between participants. A forces entry method of multiple regression
analysis was performed to obtain degrees of activity satisfaction statistically. The dependent variable was each of the three activity satisfaction scores, and the independent variables were the two items which were significant as a result of single regression.
[Results] The results showed that the participants with an image of “victory” in the sports had lower satisfaction with relationships between participants than the participants without this image, and that the sports coaches had lower satisfaction with organizational management than members.
[Conclusions] A strong desire of "victory" may be related to low satisfaction with sports for mental disabilities.
Sports for mental disabilities includes "competitiveness". Participants with a strong desire of "victory" seem to have motivations to improve their skills by participating in competitive sports. The low satisfaction with sports for people with mental disabilities is a significant factor for participants.
