The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of an 8-week judo program on self-competency, physical activity (PA) motivation, and enjoyment of PA in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). METHODS: The sample included 20 children (ages 8 – 17) with a primary diagnosis of ASD. The participants completed an 8-week judo program that occurred once a week for 45 minutes. Participants were instructed to complete a series of questionnaires that measured athletic self-competency, PA motivation, and PA enjoyment at baseline and at the end of the 8-week judo program. Paired t-tests were conducted to examine differences in psychosocial factors from baseline and post-judo. Additionally, correlational analyses were conducted to examine the association between the psychosocial variables and attendance during the 8-week program. RESULTS: Although increases in psychosocial factors were observed following the cessation of the judo program, these changes were not statistically significant for any of the psychosocial factors following the 8-week program. There was a significant, positive association between PA motivation and judo attendance (r=.43, p=.05), however, neither athletic competency nor PA enjoyment were correlated with judo attendance. CONCLUSION: Although not significant, improvement in psychosocial factors were observed post-judo program. Future studies should consider increasing the duration and frequency of the judo program to potentially elicit greater changes in psychosocial factors related to PA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-1635 |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Creators | Burrell, Auckland J, Jr |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Honors Undergraduate Theses |
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