The perspective of a professional who implements the program Yoga in Daily Life about the benefits of yoga for children and youth with disabilities

Osnovni je cilj istraživanja u okviru ovog diplomskog rada dobiti uvid u iskustvo provoditelja programa joge temeljenog na sustavu „Joga u svakodnevnom životu“ sa skupinom djece i mladih s različitim teškoćama u razvoju (TUR). Preostali ciljevi koji proizlaze iz osnovnog cilja su sljedeći: utvrditi koje dobrobiti vježbanja joge provoditelj programa prepoznaje kod djece i mladih s TUR, opisati na koji način joga doprinosi osobnom i profesionalnom rastu i razvoju samog provoditelja programa, uočiti s kojim se izazovima suočava provoditelj tijekom provedbe programa joge te opisati postupke i promjene koje je potrebno provesti kako bi se program joge implementirao u neki od postojećih sustava podrške djeci i mladima s TUR u Hrvatskoj. Sudionik istraživanja je psiholog s iskustvom implementacije i provođenja programa joge u radu s djecom i mladima s TUR, a koji se temelji na sustavu „Joga u svakodnevnom životu“. Podaci su prikupljeni metodom polustrukturiranog intervjua te su obrađeni i analizirani kvalitativnom analizom podataka. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na to da vježbanje joge ima potencijala u radu s djecom i mladima s TUR, što je u skladu s većinom do sada provedenih istraživanja (Harrison, Manocha i Rubia, 2004; Peck i sur., 2005; Veneri i sur., 2018). Nadalje, pokazalo se kako joga može imati pozitivan utjecaj na osobni i profesionalni razvoj provoditelja programa, kao i na sve stručnjake pomagačkih zanimanja. Isto tako, nalazi ovog istraživanja upućuju da provoditelju nije lako implementirati cjeloviti program joge u neki od sustava podrške za djecu i mlade s TUR u hrvatskom kontekstu, no da postoji prostora za napredak. Taj prostor za napredak ogleda se u mogućnosti implementacije elemenata iz joge, u kombinaciji s drugim metodama koje primjenjuju holistički pristup u radu što bi moglo biti dovoljno za učinkovit terapijski rad. Potrebno je provesti daljnja istraživanja kvantitativnog i kvalitativnog tipa s većim brojem ispitanika kako bi se upotpunili dobiveni nalazi.The main aim of the research within this master's thesis is to gain insight into the experience of a professional who implements a yoga program based on the system Yoga in Daily Life, with a group of children and youth with various disabilities. The remaining aims arising from the main aim are the following: to determine what benefits of yoga practice the professional recognizes in children and youth with disabilities, to describe how yoga contributes to personal and professional growth and development of the professional, i.e. research participant, to identify challenges faced by the professional during the implementation of the yoga program and describe the procedures and changes that need to be carried out in order to implement the yoga program in one of the existing support systems for children and youth with disabilities in Croatia. The research participant is a psychologist with experience in the implementation of a yoga program in working with children and youth with disabilities, which is based on the system Yoga in Daily Life. Data was collected by the method of semi-structured interview and then analyzed with qualitative methodology. Findings from this research indicate that yoga practice has potential in working with children and youth with disabilities, which is in line with most research conducted so far (Harrison, Manocha and Rubia, 2004; Peck et al., 2005; Veneri et al., 2018). Furthermore, it has been shown that yoga can have a positive impact on the personal and professional development of the participant, as well as on all professional helpers. Also, the findings from this research suggest that it is not easy for the participant to implement a comprehensive yoga program in one of the support systems for children and youth with disabilities in the Croatian context, but that there is room for improvement. This could be reflected in the ability to implement elements from yoga, combined with other methods that apply a holistic approach in working with children and youth with disabilities, which could be sufficient for effective therapeutic work. It is necessary to conduct further research of both quantitative and qualitative type with a larger number of participants in order to complete the obtained findings