An Assessment of Barriers to Participation of Iranian People with Spinal Cord Injury in Recreational Physical Activity

The aim of this study was to assess the barriers to participation of Iranian people with SCI in recreational physical activity (RPA). Methodology of this survey was applied in terms of goal and descriptive-analytical with regard to data collection. The statistical population consisted of people with SCI under the supervision of the State Welfare Organization of Iran (N=12851), and 443 subjects were selected from 10 provinces as the statistical sample by cluster sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. Its content validity was confirmed by 10 leisure time and 5 spinal cord injury experts and its reliability was found by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.87) in a pilot study (n=50). Exploratory factor analysis and path analysis were used for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis categorized the barriers in six groups: environmental and structural barriers, informational barriers, emotional and physical barriers, accessibility barriers, social support barriers and economic barriers. Then, the model was examined by path analysis. Results showed that the model had an acceptable fit and among the six groups of barriers for the model, the economic barriers and social barriers respectively had the most and the least effects on participation of Iranian people with SCI in RPA. According to the great effect of economic barriers, it is recommended that greater priority should be given to remove these barriers in order to help increasing the participation of Iranian people with SCI in RPA.