Physical Activity Among Children with Visual Impairments, Siblings, and Parents: Exploring Familial Factors
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Physical Activity Among Children with Visual Impairments, Siblings, and Parents: Exploring Familial Factors Justin A. Haegele1 · Xihe Zhu1 · T. N. Kirk2 Accepted: 7 November 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Introduction Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with positive physical and psychological health outcomes, yet youth with visual impairments tend to not to engage in sufficient MVPA. The purposes of this study were to (a) examine how familial factors were associated with MVPA among youth with visual impairments, their siblings, and parents and (b) examine the daily MVPA correlation among these family members. Methods Twenty-two familial triads, including one child with a visual impairment, participated in this study. Accelerometers were used to measure MVPA and individual and familial factors were reported via questionnaire. Results Of the individual and familial factors measured, only family member role significantly predicted MVPA (β = .43, p $75,000, with 18.2% $35,000–70,000, and 4.5% $75,000 and 68% of parents had at least four-year degree) masked the potential impact of these factors. It is also possible that factors related to visual impairment, like barriers to MVPA engagement, were more impactful on family MVPA and superseded any potential influence of other familial variables (Perkins et al. 2013; Stuart et al. 2006). For example, it is feasible that commonly reported barriers to MVPA among youth with visual impairments, such as a lack of available activities, lack of appropriately trained staff, and lack of time to transport to activities (Perkins et al. 2013), would influence family’s MVPA regardless of income level, parent education, and number of siblings in the household. As such, those interested in engaging families with children with visual impairments in PA should account for explicated barriers to MVPA regardless of family demographics. The current study extends the literature surrounding MVPA engagement among youth with visual impairments by objectively measuring MVPA, focusing on participants who did not attend schools for the blind, and examining the influence of familial factors. Despite these strengths, several limitations are evident. First, the sample of participants in this study, which was primarily Caucasian and middle class, may be viewed as a limitation. Similarly, while child sex across those with and without visual impairments was fairly evenly split, parent participants were largely female. Readers should take the homogeneity of parent participants into account when attempting to generalize these results to broader populations of parents of those with visual impairments. Data were also limited in descriptive information about the participants’ visual impairments, where a visual impairment-related classification system which relies on four broad categories was used and specific diagnoses were not requested. It is reasonable to suggest that individuals who were included in the same vision classifica
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