Lillian F. Nguyen, BS
Medical Student
Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
dayton, Ohio, United States
Brittany Blitstein, BS
Medical Student
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine Virginia
Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Amy Auld, BS
Premedical Student
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
This systematic review provides a proposed solution to caregiver burden’s effects on psychological and physical demand through the use of adaptive sports. Additionally, this review will address the accessibility to adaptive sports. This review can be considered by providers when creating familial health care plans.
Design:
A comprehensive literature search was performed with PubMed and ScienceDirect databases with date range of 2000 to present. 35 articles were selected and used within the range of 2015 to 2024. Exclusion criteria consisted of case series and case reports to mitigate bias. Keywords utilized: caregiver, burden, adaptive sports.
Results:
Caregivers are at an increased risk for anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Caregiver support groups have been successful in relieving these symptoms by creating a community of those struggling with similar challenges. Adaptive sports programs provide a comparable network for caregivers to connect with other caregivers and form a nurturing community. Caregivers experience more physical burden when their care recipients are less mobile. By introducing adaptive sports, participants can improve their daily function, become stronger, and increase mobility. This increased self-sufficiency can reduce physical burden on caregivers through the use of adaptive sports. Accessibility of adaptive sports is impacted by the location, cost to participate, insurance coverage, program availability and prevalence of recreational therapists. Caregiver burden is the emotional, physical, and psychological strain on caregivers. This burden is increased when their care recipient is less mobile and alleviated when caregivers participate in caregiver support groups. Adaptive sports programs can improve the physical strength and mobility of participants and provide a supportive community for caregivers. Adaptive sports allows families to synchronously address two problems at once: the health of a disabled member and the health of a caregiver.
Conclusions:
