Working together to increase physical activity opportunities for children experiencing blindness/vision impairment in Ireland.

Résumé fourni par la source

Sufficient physical activity (PA) is associated with positive health outcomes throughout the lifespan. PA levels amongst children in Ireland generally are low (15% meet the PA guidelines) (Woods et al. 2023), but recent research highlights that PA may be even lower in children who are blind/vision impaired (BVI), with only 10% of children with BVI surveyed meeting the PA guidelines (Flynn et al. 2024). All children should be provided with appropriate and accessible opportunities to be physically active. This panel discussion will explore how “new opportunities to thrive” can be created through collaboration between researchers and agencies embedded in the BVI community to develop real-world solutions to the physical inactivity crisis amongst children with BVI in Ireland. Numerous factors likely play a role in low PA levels in this population, with unique barriers such as transport, access to facilities/PA opportunities, lower engagement in PE, and poor health-related fitness and motor competence previously identified (Flynn et al. 2024, Britton et al. 2024). Considering the wide range of barriers to PA, a multifaceted and multisectoral approach to increasing PA is required. This entails researchers and BVI agencies and advocates combining to develop strategies to increase opportunities for PA engagement within the BVI population. This panel presentation will include three main sections: 1) Current PA context in Ireland specific to children experiencing BVI, 2) Research into practice: perspectives from Vision Sports Ireland, 3) Next steps for PA promotion in Ireland: learning from international experience.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.