Date Presented 04/04/19
Special Olympics athletes are individuals with intellectual disabilities who participate in sports training and competition to encourage their development of physical fitness and life skills. In addition, Special Olympics regularly conducts health promotion programming. Health outcomes between Special Olympic athletes and nonathletes with intellectual disabilities were compared using a state-wide Medicaid data set to determine potential benefits of participation in Special Olympics.
Primary Author and Speaker: Karla Ausderau
Additional Authors and Speakers: Brittany St. John, Elisabeth Hladik, Holly Romaniak, Muhammad Al-Heizan
PURPOSE: Special Olympics athletes are individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) who participate in sports training and competition to encourage their development of physical fitness and life skills. Special Olympics regularly conducts health promotion programming with goals centered on improving athletes’ health statuses and reducing their rates of chronic diseases. To this aim, Special Olympics International has developed the world’s largest database on the health of individuals with ID; the Healthy Athletes database. Lloyd, Foley, and Temple (2018) urge researchers to utilize the expansive Healthy Athletes database and other sources of population-level data to explore the quality of health for all individuals with ID. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of Special Olympics Wisconsin’s programs by comparing Medicaid-related data for individuals with ID who are athletes vs. non-athletes.
DESIGN: A descriptive study was completed using an extant Department of Health Services data set.
METHODS: Special Olympics Healthy Athlete Screenings and Participation Records (n=8,713) were merged with ten years of statewide Medicaid data from the Department of Human Services (N=40,394). Descriptive statistics were completed to compare the populations of individuals with intellectual disabilities. A comparison (Special Olympic athletes versus individuals with intellectual disabilities that are not athletes) was completed to determine difference in 1) service utilization, 2) cost of care, and 3) medication use.
RESULTS: Special Olympic athletes were more likely to be Caucasian, younger, and reside in higher income counties as compared to non-athletes. Special Olympic athletes used significantly (<.001) more types of services, but the cost of their overall care was significantly (<.001) less. In addition, Special Olympic athletes were using significant fewer medications (<.001).
CONCLUSION: Special Olympic athletes were using more services, but at less cost with fewer prescription medications. Special Olympics membership may be beneficial for individuals with intellectual disabilities providing opportunities not only for physical and social activities, but also health screenings and community health professionals access. Special Olympics may provide increased knowledge of, and serve as a bridge to community health services that promote preventative care decreasing long-term health care costs. However, less than 25% of individuals that are eligible for Special Olympics are actively participating in the program. In addition, Special Olympic athletes tend to be significantly skewed toward Caucasian, higher income, and mobile individuals potentially confounding results. Future research should explore how to provide more individuals with intellectual disabilities access to this important public health program, specifically focusing on individuals that more likely to be marginalized and have increased health disparities. In addition, the underlying mechanisms that support improved health outcomes through Special Olympics participation should be examined for future program development within and outside of Special Olympics.
References
Lloyd, M., Foley, J. T., & Temple, V. A. (2018). Maximizing the use of Special Olympics International’s Healthy Athletes database: A call to action. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 73, 58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.12.009
Special Olympics International. (2016). Healthy athletes prevalence report 2016. Retrieved from https://media.specialolympics.org/resources/research/health/SO_Health_PrevalenceReport2016.pdf
