Christina Gee, Jenson Price, Mahadeo Sukhai, Kirsti Van Dornick, Jennifer Tomasone

The Canadian Disability Participation Project (CDPP) 2.0 is a partnership committed to improving quality participation in physical activity among persons experiencing disabilities. In supporting this mission, the CDPP 2.0 hosted its inaugural Summer Institute (SI), a training and mentorship retreat designed to build capacity among trainees who conduct disability-partnered research and knowledge mobilization in sport, exercise, and play. While such initiatives are critical for fostering inclusive academic practices, it remains unclear whether intensive short-term training translates into changes in professional practice over time. Guided by the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behaviour (COM-B) framework, this qualitative study will evaluate whether and how the 2025 SI led to changes in professional practice 6-months later. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with the SI attendees and will probe how the SI influenced attendees’ capability (intellectual and methodological growth), opportunity (network building and resource access), and motivation (values and intentions) to engage in disability-partnered physical activity research and knowledge mobilization. Data analysis will employ hybrid thematic analysis, utilizing inductive coding for emerging themes, followed by deductive mapping onto COM-B domains to categorize barriers and facilitators to engaging in disability-partnered research. Preliminary findings will provide insight into the translation of training intentions into research action, highlighting behavioral changes in participants’ study designs and knowledge mobilization. Ultimately, these findings will identify program strengths and areas for improvement, contributing to the quality enhancement of future SIs and the broader goal of advancing disability-partnered research and knowledge mobilization for improved quality physical activity participation among persons experiencing disability.