What Are the Barriers and Facilitators to Participation in Active Recreation for People with Learning Disabilities? A Scoping Review

Background: Active recreation denotes engagement with meaningful and rewarding activities that can improve physical and mental well-being for everyone; however, there are specific challenges to participation in active recreation for people with learning disabilities. Aim: To understand what hinders and what enables participation in active recreation for people with learning disabilities. Method: Using a scoping review framework, we retrieved relevant literature by searching MEDLINE 1946 (Ovid), PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete (EBSCO), Scorpus, PubMed and Web of Science. We extracted data, charted and synthesised them using the Model of Human Occupation (Kielhofner, 2008) and the social-ecological model (Boulton, Horne & Todd, 2017). Findings: Nineteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Key barriers identified in the studies included caregiver/coach knowledge and skill, caregiver resources, relational, environmental and individual capabilities. Key facilitators included choice, needs-based tailored activities, positive relationships, consideration of cognitive and functional ability, motivational incentives and policy and organisational factors. Conclusions: Participation in active recreation involves a complex interaction between individuals with learning disabilities, their caregivers and their wider organisational and community networks. This relationship warrants further exploration from the perspective of people with learning disabilities and their proxies, so that we can optimise how we design and deliver active recreational pursuits for this population.