Examination of psychological and cognitive factors in athletes with physical disabilities

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between athletic mental energy, mindfulness levels and exercise addiction of physically disabled athletes. In the research, the screening model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used. The study was conducted with licensed athletes who attend physically disabled sports clubs in Adana province and its surroundings. In the sample selection, the criterion sampling method, which is one of the non-probability sampling types, was used. The participants consisted of 127 physically disabled athletes (107 male, 20 female) with an average age of 32.11±10.94. Of the physically disabled athletes, 81 were orthopedic disabled and 46 were amputee athletes. 50 of these athletes do wheelchair basketball, 38 amputee football, and 39 do individual physically disabled sports. In this study, in order to determine the athletic mental energy, conscious awareness and exercise addiction levels of athletes, 'Athletic Mental Energy Scale' (AMES), 'Athlete Conscious Awareness Scale' (MIS) and 'Exercise Addiction Scale' (EAS) were used. Statistical analyses were performed with Kruskal Wallis and Spearman Correlation nonparametric tests. According to the research findings; a statistically significant difference was found between the athletic mental energy calmness sub-dimension mean scores, and the sub-dimension mean scores of conscious awareness and refocusing, in favor of the wheelchair basketball branch (p<0.05). A positive, significant relationship was found between the participants' athletic mental energy sub-dimension mean scores and the total mean scores of conscious awareness and exercise addiction (p<0.05). A positive significant relationship was found between the mindfulness sub-dimensions, awareness and refocusing, and exercise addiction, and a negative significant relationship was found with the non-judgment sub-dimension (p<0.05). As a result, it was determined that there was a relationship between the levels of athletic mental energy, mindfulness and exercise addiction of physically disabled athletes and that athletes of all branches developed a high rate of exercise addiction and high levels of addiction. Keywords: Disability, Exercise, Mental Energy, Mindfulness, Addiction