Start Date
16-6-2025 3:30 PM
End Date
16-6-2025 5:00 PM
Abstract
Since 1997, Special Olympics International (SOI) has conducted more than 2 million health screenings (healthy athletes screening/s; [HAS]), making it home to the largest publicly available dataset of health for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). While SOI has responded to a call to action (Lloyd et al., 2018) regarding this database, discrepancies of reliability remain. Specifically, regarding the ‘Health Habits Survey’ within the Health Promotion discipline. The ‘Health Habits Survey’ had been designed for SOI Athletes to learn about health behaviors, reduce health concerns, reinforce good health behaviors, and educate on health. Possible difficulties in validity and reliability of responses led SOI to make the Health Habits Survey optional at Health Promotion screenings. However, the “education stations” within Health Promotion may be an opportunity to understand health behaviors in substitution of the ‘Health Habits Survey’. With applying constructs of universal design for learning (UDL) to the required educational stations, continued collection of health behavior data may be possible. UDL stands on the bases of flexibility and choice; allowing athletes multiple ways to acquire health information and interact with health promotion materials empowering them to stay motivated during HAS. Therefore, the primary objective of this policy presentation is to showcase the application of UDL into existing Special Olympics HAS and explore new opportunities and methods for health data collection within these health screenings. Ultimately, applying UDL to HAS could improve Health Promotion at SOI and support the creation of surveillance reports of self-identified health behaviors in people with IDD.
Recommended Citation
Loetzner, Franziska; Ketcheson, Leah R.; and Pitchford, Andrew, "Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Screenings: Using A Universal Design for Learning in the Health Promotion Discipline" (2025). International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity and International Symposium on Physical Activity and Visual Impairment and Deafblindness. 29.
https://sword.cit.ie/isapa/2025/day1/29
Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Screenings: Using A Universal Design for Learning in the Health Promotion Discipline
Since 1997, Special Olympics International (SOI) has conducted more than 2 million health screenings (healthy athletes screening/s; [HAS]), making it home to the largest publicly available dataset of health for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). While SOI has responded to a call to action (Lloyd et al., 2018) regarding this database, discrepancies of reliability remain. Specifically, regarding the ‘Health Habits Survey’ within the Health Promotion discipline. The ‘Health Habits Survey’ had been designed for SOI Athletes to learn about health behaviors, reduce health concerns, reinforce good health behaviors, and educate on health. Possible difficulties in validity and reliability of responses led SOI to make the Health Habits Survey optional at Health Promotion screenings. However, the “education stations” within Health Promotion may be an opportunity to understand health behaviors in substitution of the ‘Health Habits Survey’. With applying constructs of universal design for learning (UDL) to the required educational stations, continued collection of health behavior data may be possible. UDL stands on the bases of flexibility and choice; allowing athletes multiple ways to acquire health information and interact with health promotion materials empowering them to stay motivated during HAS. Therefore, the primary objective of this policy presentation is to showcase the application of UDL into existing Special Olympics HAS and explore new opportunities and methods for health data collection within these health screenings. Ultimately, applying UDL to HAS could improve Health Promotion at SOI and support the creation of surveillance reports of self-identified health behaviors in people with IDD.
