What is Project ALL STAR?
Project ALL STAR aims to understand how Special Olympics programs improve athletes' lives. This evaluation project looks at how Special Olympics programs affect athletes. It studies their health and well-being over time. It seeks to identify lasting impacts on their physical, social-emotional, and mental health. Special Olympics is dedicated to changing the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). They do this through sports training and competitions, as well as health, education, and leadership programs.
What does "ALL STAR" Stand For?
Project ALL STAR is the name of the Special Olympics Inclusive Health Longitudinal Evaluation. ALL STAR stands for “Active Life and Longevity: Special Olympics Transforming Athlete Results”
Why Project ALL STAR?
Project ALL STAR aims to understand how Special Olympics Sport and Health programs impact athletes. Project ALL STAR will track athletes' health throughout their lives. This includes their physical, mental, and social well-being. The results from the project will help improve Special Olympics programs. This will make a difference in the lives of athletes and their families.
What are the Objectives?
1. Describe:
- Who Special Olympics athletes are,
- What affects their health,
- What affects their Special Olympics participation,
- What are their health conditions.
2. Examine how being in Special Olympics affects athletes' physical, mental, and social-emotional health.
3. Evaluate methods of collecting data and the measures used to validate outcomes.
Participating in Project ALL STAR
Promoting Inclusive Health with Project ALL STAR
Special Olympics athletes will be directly involved in Project ALL STAR. Project ALL STAR will follow the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us.” This means that the population that the study is about should have a say in it. People with intellectual disabilities will be involved in all stages of Project ALL STAR – from participant to project team member. This is vital as we learn more about athletes’ health and participation that will improve Special Olympics programs for everyone!
Members of the Athlete Advisory Board and the Research Evaluation Team appeared on the Inclusion Revolution Podcast. They discussed Project ALL STAR on the podcast. They talked about inclusive health and athletes' roles in its initiatives.
Who is the Project ALL STAR team?
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this word mean? Key terminology of Project ALL STAR
- Longitudinal: Over-time
- Implementation: Putting a plan into action – in this case, it means how we put Project ALL STAR into action
- Data: Information gathered about study participants.
- Data collection: Gathering information about study participants. This information shows the effects of the study on participants. This information will help us make decisions about how to improve Special Olympics programs.
- Health: Being healthy means we feel in balance, or in harmony, across all 4 parts of our health1:
- Physical Health – our body
- Mental Health – our mind (ideas, emotions, and feelings) Social Health or
- Socio-Emotional Health – our relationships with others (family, friends)
- Protocol: A system of rules. In Project ALL STAR, these are set of guidelines and rules to help deliver the study.
- Inclusive Health Research: In Project ALL STAR, inclusive health research is the inclusion of athletes in the creation of the project. It means that those being studied should have a voice in how the study is made.
- Research: An investigation into materials and sources to find new facts and conclusions.
- Program Evaluation: The process of judging the value of something to make improvements to it. Project ALL STAR is a program evaluation as it is looking at the value of Special Olympics Programs to Athletes.
- Stakeholders: People who are interested in or affected by something. Project ALL STAR impacts people affected by Special Olympics and its health programs.