Transplant Recipients’ Experience of Participation at the World Trans- plant Games in Gothenburg 2011: A Study of Psychological Well-being

The World Transplant Games (WTG) is a biennial worldwide sporting event. Most published research relating to WTG has focused on medical issues. However, few studies have examined factors such as psychological wellbeing in sport for this group. The purpose of this study is to provide a description of the English-speaking participants at the WTG and analyze five research questions linked to how (1) health, (2), satisfaction with sports participation (3), perceived competence, (4) health as a benefit of sport participation (5), and impaired health as a cost of sports participation, are related to psychological factors in sports. There were a total of 253 participants with a mean age of 43.6 years, originating from seven English-speaking nations. Four validated psychological questionnaires were used, as well as a screening of background data of the group. The main characteristics of the English-speaking population were university educated middle age men with kidney transplants, who had participated in athletics at a rather high competitive level before the transplant. The main statistical findings particularly showed that satisfaction with sport participation, perceived health and health as a benefit were the dependent variables that explained most of the variance in the analysis. In conclusion, perceived competence, enjoyment and health seem to be critical psychological factors that essentially act as prime motivating factors behind participation in games such as WTG, and ultimately lead to a sense of psychological well-being among the participants. Finally, there is a discussion of future research, as well as the practical value of the results.