The Influence of Participation Attributes on Veterans’ Sense of Community in Adaptive Sport & Recreation Programs

Abstract

Many veterans experience traumatic events throughout their service that can lead to injuries, disabilities, and problems transitioning back to civilian life (Ahern et al., 2015). United States veterans are a unique and complex population that can experience many injuries, problems, and obstacles in life after military service (Olenick et al., 2015). One such issue is often community reintegration, where an individual struggles to live independently and participate in social and societal norms, roles, and responsibilities (Dijkeres, 1998). One aspect to community reintegration is fostering a sense of community between individuals and their community of support. Adaptive sports and recreation (ASR) have long been used as a rehabilitation tool and researchers have demonstrated the increasing benefits of participation for individuals with disabilities in domains such as community reintegration, quality of life, and sense of community (Iverson et al., 2021). In this quasi-experimental study, the influence of ASR attributes (intensity, frequency, duration, and social structure) on sense of community in veterans was examined. Results found that there were no significant (p[greater-than].05) relationships between ASR attributes and sense of community in veterans. A discussion is provided on the importance of the inherent social nature of adaptive sports and recreation regardless of activity structure. Implications of this study provide insight into how an ASR program fosters a sense of community in veterans and a greater understanding of the role of ASR in promoting community reintegration in veterans.