Fostering quality experiences: Qualitative perspectives from program members and providers in a community-based exercise program for adults with physical disabilities

Background: Opportunities to be physically active within one’s community need to be available and accessible to individuals with physical disabilities in order to increase participation; however, what constitutes quality participation within these opportunities and how exercise programs can foster quality experiences for this population have yet to be explored. Objectives: (1) To explore the participation experiences of adults with physical disabilities in a community-based exercise program from two perspectives; (2) To establish whether the participants’ experiences could be understood through an existing quality participation framework. Methods: Participants were thirteen members and ten providers (i.e., coordinators, trainers, and supervisors) recruited from a community-based exercise program for adults with physical disabilities. Six focus groups (three with program members and three with each distinct group of program providers) were carried out, audio recorded and transcribed. Following an initial inductive thematic analysis, themes were deductively mapped to Martin Ginis and colleagues’ (2017) conceptualization of the experiential aspects of participation. Results: Six themes (autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery and meaning) important for experiencing quality participation were identified and were in line with Martin Ginis and colleagues’ (2017) framework. Conclusion: Findings support the use of Martin Ginis and colleagues’ (2017) conceptualization of quality participation within the context of community-based exercise programs for adults with physical disabilities. Practitioners and researchers can use the findings as a starting point for designing, implementing and evaluating programs with the goal of optimizing quality participation.