Objective: This study aims to describe United States military veteran participation in adaptive sports and to assess the demographic make-up and organizational characteristics of existing adaptive sports programs.

Design: Prospective, cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Community organizations with adaptive sports programs.

Participants: 85 adaptive sports programs.

Interventions: Nine question survey.

Outcome Measures: Demographic data and sports offered by adaptive sports programs in the United States.

Results: The survey response rate was 70%. The median number of total participants in an organization was 75 and the median number of veterans was 50. 76% of organizations had some degree of affiliation with a VAMC. Organizations affiliated with a VAMC are more likely to be rehabilitation centers, whereas community organizations with no VAMC affiliation are most commonly independent organizations with no rehabilitation component. Individuals of all ages participate in adaptive sports, with increasing participation associated with increasing age. Golf was the sport offered most commonly by adaptive sports programs in this survey. Low-contact sports were offered more often than high-contact sports, and the majority of programs offered adaptive sports year-round.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that U.S. Military veterans represent a large proportion of the individuals participating in adaptive sports. Further research specifically focusing on factors veterans find desirable when considering participating in adaptive sports is indicated to identify programs that should be promoted, developed, and funded to increase veteran participation in adaptive sports.

目的：本研究旨在描述美国退伍军人参与适应性运动的情况，并评估现有适应性运动计划的人口构成和组织特征。

设计：前瞻性横断面调查。

场所：具有自适应体育计划的社区组织。

参加者： 85个适应性体育项目。

干预措施：九项问题调查。

成果指标：美国适应性体育计划提供的人口统计数据和体育项目。

结果：调查答复率为70％。一个组织中参与者的中位数为75，而退伍军人的中位数为50。76％的组织与VAMC有一定的联系。与VAMC关联的组织更可能是康复中心，而没有VAMC隶属关系的社区组织通常是没有康复成分的独立组织。所有年龄段的人都参加适应性运动，随着年龄的增长，参与性的增加。在这项调查中，高尔夫是适应性运动计划最常提供的运动。低接触运动比高接触运动更多地被提供，并且大多数程序全年都提供自适应运动。

结论：我们的结果表明，美国退伍军人在参加适应性运动的个人中占很大比例。进一步的研究特别关注退伍军人在考虑参加适应性运动时认为合乎需要的因素，这表明应确定应促进，发展和资助以增加退伍军人参与适应性运动的计划。