A Complex Health Promotion Intervention in Parasport - The Safe & Healthy Parasport Project

The interest in Para sport is steadily increasing. A concern is, though, that elite Para athletes report a high incidence of injuries and illnesses. Altogether, there is an urgent need to prevent such incidents among athletes already suffering from an impairment. However, most of the existing training-based prevention programmes are not adapted or accessible to Para athletes. Also, recent research suggests that sports safety work advantageously should facilitate disease prevention and health promotion. Such intervention would hypothetically also have the potential to reduce injuries, illnesses and improve health among Para athletes. To allow full implementation, the intervention would need to be adapted to the Para athletes´ various impairments, abilities and sports.

MAIN QUESTIONS TO BE ADRESSED

* Can an evidence-based eHealth health promotion platform prevent sports injuries and illnesses in elite para athletes over 6 months, 12 months and 5 years? * Can such platform improve overall health parameters such as sleep, nutrition and mental health in elite para athletes and influence the performance parameters training quantity and training quality over 6 months, 12 months and 5 years? * Can such platform improve health literacy among Para athletes?