Mental health and social participation skills of wheelchair basketball players: a controlled study

The aimofthisstudywastoassessdifferencesinpsychologicalwell-being,symptomatic psychologicaldisordersandsocialparticipation,betweencompetitivewheelchair basketballparticipantsandthosenon-participants.Forty-sixwheelchairparticipants, 24 Basketballplayers(aged35.60 7.56)and22non-players(aged36.20 6.23), completed three validatedself-reportquestionnaires:ParticipationScale(PS),PsychologicalWell-Being Scale [PWBS]andSymptomChecklist90R[SCL-90-R].ANOVAshowedsignificantoverall differences betweenthetwogroups.Thesocialrestrictionscore,evaluatedbyPS,was significantly higherinthenon-basketballparticipants(p = 0.00001)thanthebasketball participants. ThePWBScaleshowedsignificantdifferencesinall6dimensions:positive relations withothers,environmentalmastery,personalgrowth,purposeinlifeandself- acceptance (p < 0.01), andautonomy(p < 0.05), withbetterscoresinthebasketball participants. TheSCL-90-Rscoresweresignificantlylowerforthebasketballgroupinthe following 6symptomaticdimensions:depression,phobicanxiety,andsleepdisorder (p < 0.01), somatization,interpersonalsensitivityandpsychoticism(with p < 0.05). Itwas concluded thatcompetitivewheelchairbasketballparticipantsshowedbetterpsychological well-being andsocialskillsthanthosenon-participants.