Understanding the Impacts of Stress on Mental and Metabolic Health in Individuals with Physical Disabilities

Our research is focused on understanding the mental health, stress and metabolism effects among individuals with physical disabilities (PD) and evaluating the potential effectiveness of a powerchair sports-based intervention in alleviating stress and enhancing resilience within this population. We will employ metabolic biomarker assays and questionnaires to achieve these goals. It is well-established that mental health outcomes are closely tied to stress and lifestyle factors. Therefore, we aim to shed light on the mental health status, stress perception, and metabolomic biomarkers specific to individuals with PD. Additionally, we plan to create distinct metabolomic profiles for various physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and spinal muscular atrophy, which could serve as valuable diagnostic tools. The mental health of individuals with physical disabilities is underexplored, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic's potential impact on this community. Our research seeks to bridge this gap by investigating how physical disabilities influence the perception of acute and chronic stressors and the associated risk of adverse mental health outcomes, including anxiety and depression. We will assess these altered metabolic signatures in urine and saliva samples. We anticipate that the powerchair sports intervention will lead to a reduction in perceived stress and an increase in resilience factors among these individuals. We will also analyze data collected from our cohort of individuals who have physical disabilities, where we will look into the impact of a caretaker, spasticity, and those living off government subsidies relative to those who are employed. This pilot study will provide a foundational assessment to inform the future design of a more comprehensive follow-up study. Ultimately, our research aims to equip healthcare providers with robust diagnostic tools and risk predictors, empowering them to support individuals with physical disabilities better.