Análise dos fatores que influeciam a qualidade de vida de atletas paraolímpicos em ambientes de treinamento e competição

• Ano de defesa: 2008
• Autor(a) principal: Lilian Aparecida de Macedo Parreiras
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; UFMG
• Palavras-chave em Português: atletas paraolímpicos e esporte de alto nível; Qualidade de vida; Esportes para deficientes; Atletas; Educação física
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/KMCG-7NRLD8

The pursuit of quality of life has become more active in modern society. The same is true of the world of sport. Athletes have been trying to improve the quality of life and therefore enhance their sporting perfomance. As for paralympic athletes, that is, physically impaired athletes who belong in the milieu of high-level sport, impressive displays have been made with the aim of promoting their well-being andbuilding their self-esteem. In this sense, the aim of this study was to identify and analyse paralympic athletes perception of general quality of life, as well as the factors affecting this perception in training and competition environments. A total of 144 athletes (41 female and 103 male) in 13 different sports (38 team sports and 106 individual sports), aged 31.3 (± 9,16 yars), participated in the study. The methodologyused involved three questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire (to collect information regarding age, experience, type of sport , dynamics of training, motivation for practicing, kind of disability and the level of the championships in which the athlete took part) , the World Health Organization questionnaire on general quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref, which assesses the athletes life and daily environment satisfaction level) and the Questionnaire of Quality of Life for Athletes (QQVA). Internal consistency above 0,70 was obtained for both instruments, WHOQOL- Bref and QQVA. Regarding the perception of general quality of life assessed through WHOQOL-Bref, the results showed that, in general, most of the athletes are satisfied with their quality of life, whilst only 2.1% of the sample rate it as poor. There were no significant differences in the comparison between genders or between congenital and acquired disability. On the other hand, in the analysis of QQVA, in the biologicaldimension, some factors that came to the fore included decent intervals for rest and recovery in trainings and competitions, quality of medical and physiotherapeutic services and quality of diet. In the psychological dimension, the factors mentioned as the most relevant were winning public recognition for the performance, selfconfidence level and concentration level. In the social dimension, important factorswere pleasure in trainings and competitions, the relationship with the coach and with members of the technical and managerial staff, as well as effective communication and integration with technical staff members. When genders were compared, no significant differences were observed, and some homogeneity of both genders perception was noticed. However, on comparison of QQVA results, the male athlete group had higher scores in the social domain, while the female athletegroup had higher scores in the psychological domain. No substantial differences were observed when congenital disability and acquired disability were compared. The studys main conclusion is that, on the grounds of the Theory of Action, the situations perceived by women as favourable to the quality of life were those concerning subjective aspects, whilst mens perception concerned environmentrelated situations.