Relationship of Basic Psychological Needs, Mental Well-Being and Motivation in Pickleball Players with Severe Mental Disorders

Abstract

Physical activity has shown its fundamental role in improving quality of life and health. People with severe mental disorders (SMD) find in its practice the possibility of attenuating part of the numerous difficulties and barriers they encounter. Following Self-Determination Theory, presenting or experiencing self-determined forms of motivation for physical exercise is related to the development of greater mental well-being and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. In this sense, pickleball due to its inclusive characteristics, is a suitable avenue. It is a racket sport with a very simple learning curve, which allows to start in a playful and fun way. The rules of this game are designed to facilitate the inclusion of any person without the need for adaptations. The aim of this study was to measure the correlation between basic psychological needs (BPN), mental wellbeing and motivation to practice physical activity in people with SMD who play piclkleball on a regular basis. A total of 42 people with SMD participated, 19 of whom were men and 23 women, aged between 20 and 73 years (M= 42.24; SD= 13.71). Results showed that more self-determined forms of motivation are positively and significantly related to both satisfaction of the three BPN and mental well-being. On the other hand, non-self-determined forms of motivation reported a negative relationship with BPN satisfaction, and showed negative significance with mental well-being. All scales employed showed adequate reliability indices (α> .70). In conclusion, this study shows that, people who practice pickleball from self-determined motivations for the activity itself have higher levels of satisfaction with their BPN and mental well-being.