Paraidrottares upplevelse av motivation till att idrotta -en kvalitativ studie

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this qualitative study was to study and examine what motivates paraatheltets who practice wheelchair sport to perform sports and exercise. The two questions of the study was how is the motivation of wheelchair athletes with physical impairment for sport and exercise affected based on the three psychological needs? How is the para-athlete’s sporting participation and performance affected by social support? In order to adequately answer the purpose of the study and its questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted (Smith & Sparkers, 2018). Ten interviews were conducted with participants who were suitable, base on the study’s criteria, seven men and three women. The participants were between the ages of 22-58 (M=45.6). Four main themes were decided by a deductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006), several subordinate themes were additionally formed from the collected data. The four main themes are, autonomy in performing parasport, perceived belonging with parasport, perceived competence in the context of parasport and barriers resulting in inactive participation in parasport. The participants experiences suggest a need to fulfill the three basic psychological needs withing self-determination theory. In order to experience motivation for sports and exercise, all components withing the self determination theory need to be fulfilled. The individual with physical disabilities needs to experience autonomy, competence and belonging in the sports league context they are in. The result of the study is considered to be useful as an aid and support for individuals with physical disabilities to start doing sports and exercise. A vital aspect for continued sports participation in para-athletes is the experience of social support from family, friends, and relatives.