PhD, Associate Professor A.M. Burkova¹
Master student E.S. Yagudina¹
PhD, Associate Professor Barbas Ioannis^2
1 Ural Federal University named after First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg
² Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Greece

Keywords: physical education, students, health limitations, disability, rehabilitation, musculoskeletal disorders, cerebral palsy, cardiovascular system, Federal State Educational Standard.

Background. Progress of medical technologies and global progress in many humanitarian aspects has resulted in the growing numbers of people with disabilities and health disorders. Modern societies face the following two opposite trends: growing numbers of children with severe complex health disorders in need of special living and learning conditions on the one hand; and the increasing share of people with the psychophysical development rates close to the age norm who are willing to enter the educational system [4].

Ranked with students with health limitations and special education needs are the following categories: innate deaf, hearing-deficient, late deaf, blind, visually impaired, as well as people with severe speech impairments, musculoskeletal disorders, mental retardations, autism spectrum disorders, complex developmental defects, mental retardations etc. The terms “person with health limitations” and “disabled” are fairly close in their meanings. It should be emphasized that “disabled” refers to the people formally certified as such by the relevant medical commission; whilst “people with health limitations” is the traditional broader term used in our country with reference to the formally uncertified individuals with health disorders.

Presently the global research and educational communities widely apply the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Functioning is the key concept of the classification with the following three levels: organism (functions and structures of the organism on the whole); human (activity, performance, operations); and society (with its inclusivity and life quality assurance functions). Disability in this context means the health impairment or limitation of the bodily functioning at some or more of the above three levels. Some terminological inconsistencies may be explained by the differences in the ICF and the International Classification of Diseases.

Modern academic education services for the students with health limitations may be classified into inclusive and distant ones, conditional on every education service class being compliant with requirements of the valid Federal State Educational Standard and daily regimens obligatory in the student communities irrespective of the health needs. It should be mentioned that students formally qualified disabled cannot require special additional guaranties for the individual right for education; whilst the students with health limitations, even when some of them are not formally qualified as disabled, still may have their special educational needs met including the need for special adapted academic education curricula.

The ICF standards may be used to qualify with the health limitations group every individual whose health condition may limit his/ her ability to learn all or some sections of the educational curricula unless a special education service is provided. Thus the academic physical education service is provided as a component of the general bachelor training curricula in the core part of Module 1; and the traditional physical education service format for semesters 1 through 6 is standard for everyone irrespective of the health level.

Objective of the study was to analyze the rehabilitation potential of the modern academic education service for students with health limitations.

Methods and structure of the study. Pursuant to the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (ratified by Russia in 2012), we have classified herein with the health limitations category the 1-3-year full-time students of different specialties having disabilities or functioning limitations of either of the above levels, i.e. organism, individual, or social. We sampled for the study 35 disabled people having formal qualifications as such from a medical/ social commission plus 65 students with health limitations qualified with the special health group, i.e. 100 people in total, including 95 females and 5 males. The individual health data were mined in 2016-19 by clinical interviews and included the psychological, socio-demographic and anamnestic data complemented by the health records of the university medical/ sanitary service.

Results and discussion. The study data and analyses found (see Table 1) 45.7% of students with health limitations being disabled due to general diseases (innate cardiovascular system pathologies, for example) and 34.3% having musculoskeletal disorders including those due to cerebral palsy, with the gender split of 60%/ 40% (21 females and 14 males, respectively).

Table 1. Diagnosed disabilities in the sample

The analysis found domination of innate disabilities (34.2%); followed by Group 2, 3 and 1 disabilities (28.6%; 14.3% and 2.8%, respectively). Ranked with the innate disability category was 20% of the sample. Analysis of the key diagnoses in the special health group (see Figure 1 hereunder) showed prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (37.0%), followed by cardiovascular disorders (25.0%) and visual deficiencies (18.0 %).

Figure 1. Special health group diagnoses: main diseases

It was gratifying for us to find only 3.0% of the sample self-identifying themselves as “disabled”; 9.0% rated themselves "healthy"; 15.0% “persons with health limitations”; and 73.0% reported being “virtually healthy”. Furthermore, 78.0% of the students with health limitations reported feeling no discrimination in the academic community for the health reasons; and only 15.0% mentioned feeling discriminated. Given in Table 3 hereunder are the anonymous questionnaire survey data of the students with health limitations.

Table 2. Anonymous questionnaire survey data of the students with health limitations

The academic education service may be classified as reasonably comfortable for the people with health limitations as verified by the reportedly good health during the academic year (94.0%); freedom in progress opportunities and educational trajectories (94.0%); tolerant attitudes of the faculty to absenteeism for health reasons (75.0%) and the reasonably good family incomes (75.0%). Furthermore 53.0% reported the university offering them individualized education trajectories sensitive to their health needs; whilst 36.0% were uncertain on the point and 11.0% denied (or never heard) of the individualized learning options for health reasons. At the same time, 67.0% of the sample acknowledged the special health group curricula being customizable to their health needs; 58.0% of the special health group believe that the special physical education service improves their health; 33.0% were uncertain about its benefits; and 9.0% reported no health benefits of the service. Therapeutic physical education service was reportedly enjoyed or a regular basis (1-3 times a week) by 54.0% and "from time to time” by 46.0% of the sample. 67.0% said they would attend the physical education classes even if they were optional under the Federal State Educational Standard; and 21.0% said they would not attend. The health improvement activities were reported as follows: regular health examinations - 66.0%; no bad habits (smoking, alcohol) - 45.0%; healthy daily lifestyle - 42.0%; healthy food - 30.0%; and extra physical trainings - 24.0%.

Practical experience of a few elective physical education services for students with health limitations [4] (provided by the "Student Physical Health Monitoring” Program; the Student Sport Clubs Association "Ladya"; GTO Complex Festivals; National Sports Festivals “Friendship Route”; mass open online course “Physical Education Theory and Practice” etc. [5]) have showed their benefits for the disabled students’ rehabilitation programs – when the students learn on a full-time basis, have no  academic backlogs and actively compete in or support the academic sports events.

Conclusion. Modern academic physical education and sports services may be highly beneficial for the mental, social and physical health rehabilitation of people with disabilities and health limitations. National educational establishments nowadays with their distant learning technologies and special services not only help students master their professions but also facilitate their social adaptation and teamwork in the academic and professional environments, with a special priority to the health rehabilitation aspects of the service for people with health limitations. The study data and analyses demonstrate the synergistic benefits of the modern inclusive academic education service for students with health limitations in the socio-cultural, mental and physical health aspects.

References

1.  Burkova A. M., Yagudina E.S. Mass online physical education course application experience in academic studies. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2018. No. 11. Pp. 59-62.
2. Maleeva T.M. Disability and social status of persons with disabilities in Russia. Moscow: Delo RANHiGS publ., 2017. 256 p.
3. Lubysheva L.I. Modern value potential of physical culture and sport and ways of its public and personal development. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 1997. No. 6. pp. 10-15.
4. Manzheley I.V. Environmental approach in students' sports lifestyle cultivation. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2013. No. 12. pp. 9-13.
5. Shchetinina E.B. Modern classification criteria for professional education for persons with disabilities. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Ser.: Akmeologiya obrazovaniya. Psikhologiya razvitiya. 2014. v. 3. no. 2 (10). pp. 164-168.

Corresponding author: am.burkova@mail.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to analyze the rehabilitation potential of the modern academic education service for students with health limitations.
Methods and structure of the study. Pursuant to the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (ratified by Russia in 2012), we have classified herein with the health limitations category the 1-3-year full-time students of different specialties having disabilities or functioning limitations of either of the above levels, i.e. organism, individual, or social. We sampled for the study 35 disabled people having formal qualifications as such from a medical/ social commission plus 65 students with health limitations qualified with the special health group, i.e. 100 people in total, including 95 females and 5 males. The individual health data were mined in 2016-19 by clinical interviews and included the psychological, socio-demographic and anamnestic data complemented by the health records of the university medical/ sanitary service.

Study results and conclusions. The sample was dominated by individuals with the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular disorders, while 73.0% of students considered themselves "apparently healthy" and did not have any special educational needs. We detected the absence of serious health complications during the academic year; the possibility of conscious selection of a personality-centered educational trajectory of students' development, understanding teachers' attitudes to the classes missed by the disabled individuals for health reasons.
The findings demonstrate the synergistic effect of inclusive education on the disabled individuals and students with health limitations, high rehabilitative potential of the educational university environment.