| Description |
Acquiring a physical disability can be a traumatic event accompanied by a plethora of physical and psychosocial challenges. Despite these challenges, many people who have endured traumatic events also report experiences of positive psychological change, known as posttraumatic growth (PTG). This dissertation sought to understand the phenomenon of PTG amongst para sport athletes with acquired disability, and how their para sport participation may have facilitated these experiences. By conducting semistructured interviews with 14 elite paratriathletes with experiences of PTG, the first study sought to examine the relevance of theoretical tenets of the organismic valuing theory of growth through adversity (OVT) in understanding PTG. Directed content analysis revealed themes largely consistent with the main tenets of OVT. Specifically, paratriathlon participation facilitated PTG by providing experiences of social connection, competence, empowerment, and identity development. The second study sought to understand the cognitive processing that occurs in relation to a disabling life event among para sport athletes, as well as the role of para sport participation in shaping these cognitions, and subsequent perceptions of PTG or distress. Seventy-five para sport athletes completed questionnaires concerning disruption to core beliefs in the aftermath of acquiring a disability, cognitive processing, and perceptions of PTG and distress. A serial multiple mediation analysis revealed that PTG can be achieved through several unique sequences of cognitive processing. Furthermore, these indirect paths revealed the value of purposefully trying to make sense of a trauma. Informed by study 1's findings demonstrating the importance of psychological needs satisfaction and study 2's findings of the role of cognitive processing in achieving PTG, study 3 sought to examine how deliberate rumination and psychological need satisfaction interact to facilitate PTG for para sport athletes with acquired disability. Seventy para sport athletes completed a survey similar to that of study 2, with the addition of a measure assessing needs satisfaction afforded through para sport participation. Though deliberate rumination and needs satisfaction were both independently associated with PTG, moderated mediation analyses revealed that the interaction between the two constructs was not as hypothesized. Findings from the studies are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications. |
