What is the issue? 

Special Olympics is a global organization that offers year-round sports opportunities for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). Special Olympics also funds research aimed at promoting the health and wellbeing of people with IDD, who are more likely to experience health issues and face challenges accessing equitable healthcare. However, research findings are not easily shared with those who need them most—athletes, families, and coaches. We need to find better ways to share health information with people with IDD and those who support them.   
  

What we covered

• Men’s Health
  Men’s health is not just about physical fitness—it also includes mental well-being.   
• Women’s Health
  Women’s health includes important topics like breast and menstrual health, which can affect daily life and sports performance.   
  
• Health Check-in
  Having regular check-ups with a healthcare professional, not just waiting for emergencies, is key to staying healthy. 
• Mindfulness
  Mindfulness is a powerful tool for athletes, helping to stay focused and calm both in sports and everyday life.    
• Sleep
  A good night’s sleep is important for health, performance, and overall well-being, yet many struggle to get the rest they need.   
• Diabetes
  Staying active through sports is a fun and effective way to help prevent diabetes and boost overall health. 
    

What did we do?

H-CARDD partnered with Special Olympics Canada to develop a series of knowledge products on five key topics: Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Health Check Ins, Mindfulness, and Sleep. For each topic, we developed five resources tailored to different audiences.

• Easy Reads – Accessible, athlete-friendly tip sheets using simple language and visual aids to make health information easier to understand.
• Family Snapshots – Concise two-page tip sheets designed to help family/caregivers support their athlete’s health, complete with practical advice and resource links.
• Coach's Corner – Quick-reference guides for coaches with tips on promoting athlete health, including useful links to additional resources.
• Podcasts – Engaging audio and video discussions hosted by Special Olympics athletes, featuring interviews with researchers, clinicians, fellow athletes, Champions Network athletes, coaches, and caregivers. All our HCARDD podcasts are available on our IDD: Get to Know me channels on Spotify and Apple.
• Animated Videos – Dynamic video versions of the Easy-Reads, bringing key messages to life through engaging visuals and audio. Available in French and English on our H-CARDD YouTube channel.

As a bonus, we also have a podcast episode and easy read on diabetes, available in both English and French, to provide valuable insights on managing and understanding diabetes within the Special Olympics community.  

Our goal was to provide clear, accessible, and actionable health information to empower athletes, families, and coaches in fostering a healthier community!
  

What did we learn?

To identify which knowledge products people like best, we tracked clicks, downloads and views for all the products between March and July 2025. Overall, we had over 1000 views during this time period and these results do not include the many other ways the materials were shared, such as through email, word of mouth, or in print form. When we looked more closely at the different topics and types of products, some had more engagement than others. We found that women’s health was the most interacted with topic across all products, while podcast episodes emerged as the most engaging product type. On social media, we had the most engagement over Facebook.

Three key things we learned in this project are:

• It is important to work together with athletes, families and coaches to make sure we create products that are easy to find and to understand and interesting to read, listen to or watch.
• Different people like to learn things in different ways. It is important to try more than one way to explain things to make sure everyone can learn about ways to stay healthy
• Even if we create the best stories, tip sheets, podcasts and videos, no one will learn from them if they do not know that they exist. We need to continue to think of creative ways to spread awareness of these knowledge products so that everyone can get access to them.
    

Any Questions? 

Please feel free to contact Dr. Avra Selick, avra.selick@camh.ca.