Security concerns of people using wheelchair
Jitka Čihounková, Alena Skotáková, Jindřiška Kohoutková
Masaryk University, Faculty of sport studies, Department of gymnastics and combatives (The Czech
Republic)

Introduction
•people with disabilities are more vulnerable to violence than their non-disabled counterparts
•security concerns        higher risk of isolation      it is worthy for disabled people to be
trained in self-defence to support their self-confidence and courage
•

Study aim
•This study was carried out as a starting point for designing a course of self-defence for people
using wheelchair. •Identifying the level of self-confidence in physically disabled people in the
various types of conflict situations is the main aim of the study.
•

Methods – research sample
•39 people using wheelchair
•23 male, 16 female
•26 using assistant, 13 not
•age 38.8 ± 10.7 years
•18 with completed primary education, 17 secondary education, 4 with a university degree
•13 using electrical wheelchair, 10 mechanical, 16 both

Methods
•a set of questions (developed as a result of specific research at Masaryk University based on
experience of disabled people with risky or violent behavior towards this specific group and their
security concerns) to determine the degree of self-confidence in self-defence situations such as
prevention, verbal conflict and physical assault
•divided into 3 sections evaluating the degree of self-confidence in self-defence situations, such
as verbal conflict, physical assault (such as “If I were physically attacked I would know what to
do”, “It is easy for me to respond to physical conflict.”, “I feel confident solving physical
conflict”)  and prevention.
•

Methods
•Each question assessed by 5 - point ranking Likert scale to determine the level of agreement (1 –
I totally disagree, 5 – I totally agree).
•Statistica.cz software:
•The Mann-Whitney U test - the differences between two groups (gender, education, assistant)
•Kruskal-Wallisova ANOVA - the differences between three groups (type of wheelchair).
•The level of significance of p <0.05 was established.
•

Results 1
•Crime prevention
•not sure with avoiding dangerous places (median 3).
•more confident in a situation which can be affected by not provoking the conflict (median 4) or
being more alert in a potentially dangerous situation (median 4).
•Verbal conflict – not sure (median 3)
•Physical conflict
•know what to do (median 3)
•solving (median 2)
•responding (median 2)
•Primary school educated more confident in solving verbal conflict than those with higher education
(p = 0.025747)
•

Results 2
•10 different situations including physical conflict •quite scared of physical attack, grabbing and
pulling out the personal belongings and inappropriate proposals at night (mostly median 4) •with
personal assistant more scared of the situation than those with no assistant (p = 0.017155)
•

Results 3
•3 statements focused on strategies of people in wheelchair
•Avoiding situations they are scared of the most
•Not sure about the benefits of knowing the communication strategies (median 3)
•Try not to limit themselves and face their fears (median 4)
•Men totally agree while women are not that confident in this statement (p = 0.013351)
•

Conclusion
•People with disabilities feel more vulnerable when being a crime victim therefore it is definitely
worthy for them to be trained in self-defence techniques.
•Apart from the physical benefit it gives them sense of "calm and confidence" and "a fighting
chance" in situations that can be dangerous.
•Self-defence course: enhancing their self-confidence during conflict situations through
communication training, self-defence techniques and tactical education
•Despite the fact that clients must keep in mind their limitations, self-defence course should help
them to realize their potential in full extend.
•

Thank you for your kind attantion.
cihounkova@fsps.muni.cz