Annual of social work, Vol. 20 No. 3, 2013.
Original scientific paper
LIFE QUALITY OF WAR VETERANS WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES PLAYING SITTING VOLLEYBALL
Omer Ćorić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3151-6507
; Centar za socijalnu skrb Sisak, Sisak, Hrvatska
Damir Ljubotina
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Psychology Department, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The article presents the results of a research conducted with 101 Homeland War veterans with physical disabilities actively playing sitting volleyball,with the aim of exploring the reasons and motivation for playing, perceived benefits from playing, the level of satisfaction with acknowledgement and appreciation of the society and various aspects of the quality of life.
The majority of players started playing volleyball after being invited by a friend and the main motives for participation are friendship and socialising as well as care for personal health. Between 75% and 85% of veteransestimate that sitting volleyball to a higher degree helps them to improve their physical and mental health, social life and the feeling of general purposefulness. The majority of veterans are satisfied with the level of understanding and appreciation of their family and friends but significantly less of the institutions and the state in general. Average results of the quality of life questionnairedo not significantly differ from the results of the comparative sample of men from the general population. Veterans evaluate material aspects and the quality of leisure time as better and the mental health as worse than the average male population. The results confirm initial hypotheses on the importance of active participation in sports as well as social acknowledgement in the process of psychosocial reintegration of persons with disabilities.
Keywords
war veterans with physical disabilities; sitting volleyball; quality of life
Hrčak ID:
118481
URI
Publication date:
14.3.2014.
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