Atletismo paralímpico para favorecer a qualiadade de vida de pessoas com deficiência na cidade de João Pessoa /PB

Abstract

The use of the term quality of life (QL) has been widely used by the general population to portray various aspects related to human life, such as health conditions, food, education, among others. In this perspective sports and in particular Paralympic athletics, allows the inclusion of people with the most varied types of disability, among them: physical, intellectual and visual. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of individuals with disabilities practicing para-Olympic athletics in the city of João Pessoa-PB. This was a descriptive study with a quantitative approach. 40 individuals were invited to participate voluntarily, 20 athletes from Paralympic athletics and 20 non-athlete sedentary deficient individuals, both groups with the same deficiencies, that were: visual deficiency, physical disability and intellectual disability, adults over 18 years of age, of both sexes. The instrument used was the WHOQOL-bref, a generic instrument for evaluating (QL) widely used in diverse clinical conditions, as well as in healthy individuals, prepared by the WHO in its Brazilian version and reduced. It is composed of 26 questions, where there are questions that evaluate the general QL and other questions assess the general health. Based on the results obtained from the data analysis, it is considered that disabled people who are Paralympic athletes differ positively in the perception of quality of life in relation to the non-sedentary disabled athletes, who have the same deficiencies studied. With this we conclude that the Paralympic athletics can generate a positive and significant impact on the QV of the practitioners of this modality.