Psychological well-being and social participation assessment in visually impaired subjects playing Torball: a controlled study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in psychological well-being, symptomatic psychological disorders and social participation, between blind Torball players and non-players. Thirty blind male participants were recruited, 17 Torball players (aged 36.27±3.46) and 13 non-players (aged 34.80±2.53), and evaluated for social participation level, psychological well-being and symptomatic psychological disorders, using three validated self-report questionnaires: Participation Scale (PS), Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) and Symptom Checklist 90 R (SCL-90-R) respectively. ANOVA showed significant overall differences between the two groups. The social restriction score in the non-player group was significantly higher (p<0.01) than the player group. The Torball player group showed significant better scores than non-player group in 5 of the 6 dimensions of the PWB Scale (p<0.01) and in 8 of the 10 dimensions of the SCL-90-R (7 dimensions p<0.01; 1 dimension p<0.05) and in the three global scores of the SCL-90-R (p<0.01). The results of this study showed a relationship between psychological well-being and social skills of visually impaired people and their Torball practice.