Sonal Sharma
San Jose State University, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Altern Integr Med
Although there is a progressive trend towards the use of yoga as a mind-body complementary and alternative medicine intervention there isnâ??t sufficient research on the benefits of yoga for individuals with disabilities. This study evaluated the parental perceptions of yoga benefits in enhancing the social-emotional development of their children with disabilities. 18 parents of individuals with disabilities participated in the online and paper survey. The survey instrument included 6 demographic questions and 18 close-ended likert-scale questions. The survey was designed to collect data on the perceptions of parents about yoga benefits for their child with regards to three major components of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): (1) Self-regulation skills (2) Social skills, and (3) Behaviors and decision-making skills. A quantitative analysis of data was utilized with the qualtrics survey software. Descriptive statistics (i.e. percentage scores) were utilized to analyze response scores of the 18 participants. The results indicated that almost 80% of participants agreed that yoga was helpful in enhancing their childâ??s ability to focus, stay calm, regulate their emotions and be aware of their surroundings. Almost 50% of participants disagreed that yoga had no influence on their childâ??s ability to communicate and understand the emotions of others. Over half i.e. 63% of participants agreed that after practicing yoga, their child was more organized, flexible to change and had improved ability to follow directions and resolve conflicts. These data suggest that yoga may be effective in enhancing the social, emotional and physical well-being of individuals with disabilities.
E-mail: sonal.sharma@sjsu.edu
Alternative & Integrative Medicine received 476 citations as per Google Scholar report
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