Moral development in people with intellectual disabilities through pre sport program

Abstract

This work presents a program to development moral reasoning in people with intelectual disabilities through pre-sport activities in an educational context for their social integration into the workplace. The program is inspired principally by Kohlberg’s theory. Its aim was increase the moral competence of the students with intellectual disabilities through the combination of motor skill tasks with the discussion of moral dilemmas in sport. 23 students participated (11 males, 12 females) aged between 21 and 31 (M = 25.96; SD = 3.15) in a non-equivalent group quasi-experimental design. A Spanish version of the Moral Competence Test (MCT) was measurement instrument of moral reasoning. The experimental group showed an increase in the means of the C-Index after the application of the pre-sport program, although no statistically significant differences were detected (F = .16, p = .69). In addition, the comparison between means of the C-Index of the control group and the group that received the program showed an improvement in the score of the latter. Although no statistically significant differences were detected (F = .34, p = .56). Similar results can be observed in the scores of moral development levels. After intervention, there were improvements in the preconventional (stage 1 and 2) and conventional (stage 3 and 4) levels. Postconventional level (stage 5 and 6) had a lower mean. Comparing control group and group that received the program, the latter showed improvements in the scores of all stages. It encourages further research in the area of moral development and the physical condition of people with intellectual disabilities.