Abstract
Within the context of disability, quality participation (QP) refers to being involved in a role or activity that extends beyond what a person does and takes into account a person's meaningful, subjective experiences. A QP experience encompasses feelings of autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery, and meaning. The operationalization of QP in community-based physical activity programming has been minimally examined for persons with physical disabilities. This study explored the fundamental practices and strategies utilized to foster key experiential indicators of QP within community-based physical activity programs for persons with physical disability in Ontario. Programs identified by a grey literature search were invited to participate. Program administrators from nine of fifteen eligible programs completed an online survey and a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed the QP domains of belongingness and engagement, and a novel domain of validation, as the most common aspects that programs attempted to foster. Other emergent themes included strategies for establishing optimal conditions to achieve QP and outcomes of QP. A list of 66 strategies that programs may implement to achieve a quality experience for participants was generated. The prevalence of strategies focusing on belongingness, engagement, and validation in current programs suggest that the development of socially-related aspects of QP may be more valuable in this setting. These findings also allude to the importance of social experience in the development of participation-enhancing services and policies at community-based physical activity programs. A series of follow-up studies are being undertaken to validate the list of QP strategies.Acknowledgments: Funding is provided by: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant (through the Canadian Disability Participation Project) The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master's Program)