Caleb Morris and Dr. Steven Riep, Asian and Near Eastern Languages
The “Body Building Plan for Entire People” (Quanmin Jianshen Jihua Gangyao) laid out in 1995, for the purpose of, “increasing exercise activities among the masses, and consistently building the number of people involved in sporting events. The body building of the masses will be viewed with an importance that increases daily, and the avenues for athletic pursuits will be available in increasing variety” (1). In the fourteenth article of the proclamation it is made clear that this plan is for all of China’s citizens including the disabled. The proclamation calls for the “pushing forth of body building activities for the disabled and an increase in health and ability to participate equally in society of the disabled.” Ten years later, in 2005, Yang Qiang of China West Normal University, Nanchong conducted a study to determine how effectively the Quanmin Jianshen Jihua Gangyao had been carried out (2). From this study it is clear that two barriers that prevent the disabled from exercising are resources and desire. This study focuses the impact of the Paralympics on the desire to be active.
In this study 120 individuals are surveyed about their exposure to the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. The study participants were all students at a school for the disabled in China. Each student filled out a survey consisting of 23 questions designed to understand their background, exposure to Paralympic sport and exercise habits.
Forty-nine of the respondents were female and 72 were male. The age of the students ranged from 13 to 23, the mean age was, 17 years old. One of the surveys was left blank.
In order to better understand the student’s socioeconomic background, the students responded to a question about their parents educational background. Twenty-three of the students indicated that they preferred not to answer this question and one left the question blank. Of the students answering the question 38 students (39% of the students who answered this question) indicated that their parents had only Elementary School through Middle School Education. The school reported that its students come from both within the city and throughout the province. The mixed educational background of the parents seems to represent the mixed socioeconomic conditions that this would represent.
The disabilities represented in the population were mainly hearing and visual impairment. Two of the students reported multiple disabilities: both had a combination of visual and hearing impairment with one also listing another disability in the other category. Reported level of disability ranged from those requiring assistance in all daily activities to those who did not require assistance in any daily activities. Seven individuals reported that they had no disability, two of these also reported no disability under type of disability while five indicated that they had hearing disability. It appears that while many of these individuals have some hearing impairment they do not feel disabled by it. Of the 107 individuals who chose to answer this question, 75%, reported that they required assistance in some or all daily activities.
Of those that watched the paralympics over fifty percent of individuals surveyed responded that they felt the paralympics had increased their desire to participate in sports. This percentage was 7 percent higher in response to watching the paralympics vs watching news programs about the paralympics. The percentage of those who felt the news decreased their desire to participate in sports was 6 percent higher than for programing of actual events. The percentage of those who reported no effect was around 42% for both forms of programing.
This indicates that regardless of the type of programming about half of those who watched it felt that their desire to exercise increased. The 6-7 percent shift from increase to decrease suggests that programming showing sporting events had a more consistent positive impact than did news coverage of the Paralympics. If this is confirmed by further research in more locations is suggests that the must effective way to impact the desire of individuals with disability to participate in sport is through increasing the coverage of sporting events for disabeled atheletes. Increasing the amount of programing featuring disabled athletes would also have an direct impact on the demand for disabled athletes which would increase the amount of opportunities available to them.
Paired-Comparison Permutation Test on the mean category shift in frequency of exercise before and after the Paralympics yielded a p-value of .0006 indicating that there is a highly significant positive shift in the frequency of exercise. We can see this effect in the graph. When the data was tested for correlation between reported increase in desire to participate in sport it is interesting to note that there was no correlation between a reported increase in desire to exercise and a reported increase in frequency of exercise. Or in other words the change in frequency of exercise among individuals who reported that watching the Paralympics had increased their desire to participate in sports was similar to the change in frequency of exercise among those who reported that they The mean frequency of exercise did however increase more for those who watched the Paralympics than those who reported that they did not. (.226 and .462). The change in mean frequency of exercise was twice as high among those who reported watching the Paralympics as it was in the population that reported that they did not watch the Paralympics.
These findings give reason to conclude that the Paralympics are indeed an effective tool for increasing desire to exercise among students at schools for the disabled in China. The study was limited to students from two disability types and a limited age range so it will be important to carry out similar research among individuals with different disabilities, in different settings. As a there is an increase in desire to participate in athletics increases this population will be able to work with local officials to better direct public resources allocated for the disabled community creating more opportunities for increased access to exercise and its associated physical, social and mental health benefits.
Bibliography
- Quanmin Jianshen Jihua Gangyao. http://www.xstyj.com/2009060315.html. August 2009
- Yang, Qiang. Investigation and Analysis of the Current State of the Disabled Persons Body Building Plan. China West Normal University