Sport for Children with Special Needs: Social Capital, Collective Identities, Health Literacy, Well-being and Human Capital

Abstract

The objective of this study is to measure the societal values of sport for children with special needs including down syndrome and autism. It adapts the newly-developed general instrument to measure the social impact of sport in terms of social capital, collective identities, health literacy, well-being and human capital, which includes both composite and global measures. Especially, it examines the efficiency and utility for the global measures in the specific context by analyzing the correlation between the global measure and composite measures. One of the important contributions of the study is the empirical evidence for the potential of sport activities to the population of children with special needs. We found this potential can depend on the forms or characteristics of sport activities. Ultimately, the study offers the measured outcomes of participations in sport programs or activities when seeking a sponsor or a partner for financial support for sport-based social initiatives for children with special needs.