Qualitative research has grown within sport and exercise psychology and is now widely conducted. The purpose of this review is to discuss three commonly used ways to demonstrate rigor when conducting ...or judging qualitative research in sport and exercise psychology. These are the method of member checking, the method of inter-rater reliability, and the notion of universal criteria. Problems with each method are first highlighted. Member checking and inter-rater reliability are shown to be ineffective for verification, trustworthiness, or reliability purposes. Next, universal criteria within the context of Tracy's, heavily drawn on paper within sport and exercise psychology is problematized. Throughout the discussion of each method and universal criteria more suitable possibilities for conducting rigorous qualitative research are offered. The paper concludes that to support high-quality qualitative research, scholars - including journal editors and reviewers - need to change how rigor is developed and judged, rather than perpetuate the problems with how it has been commonly evaluated in the past. Recommendations for developing rigor when conducting and/or judging qualitative research within sport and exercise psychology are also offered.
To understand cultural issues within cultural sport psychology (CSP) research, methodological variation has been advocated. Those interested in carrying out CSP research with a ‘critical sensibility’ ...are presented with the challenge of deciding what methodology may capture a socially constructed and nuanced analysis of culture, self-identity and experience. In this paper we focus on two qualitative methodologies grounded in social constructionism and their potential for advancing understandings of culture within CSP research: narrative inquiry and discursive psychology.
Focusing on what is at the “core” of critical CSP research – cultural praxis – we briefly outline narrative inquiry and discursive psychology, articulate three key convergences between them and discuss how these link with, and build upon, cultural praxis tenets. To further demonstrate the potential of these methodologies for centralizing and expanding understandings of culture in CSP, we next offer distinct methodological contributions of each: autoethnography, conversation analysis, and critical discourse analysis.
We close by suggesting that to move beyond theoretical discussions of cultural praxis in CSP, sport psychology researchers might use narrative inquiry and discursive psychology. Doing so allows for more informed and principled methodological choices in CSP research that align with social constructionism, and provides a critical and nuanced analysis of culture, moving forward.
•We expand dialogues advocating for critical forms of cultural sport psychology research.•Two social constructionist methodologies aligning with cultural praxis are outlined.•Narrative inquiry's and discursive psychology's focus on language centralizes culture.•Informed and reflexive methodological choices in CSP research are encouraged.
In the 2016 International Olympic Committee Consensus Statement on harassment and abuse, it was outlined that psychological abuse in sport research has been heavily focused on the coach-athlete ...relationship resulting in a lack of research on other members of the athletes' support system such as their 'entourage.' Researchers of abuse have further noted that psychological abuse remains relatively underexplored in comparison to other types of athlete abuses (e.g. sexual abuse). As psychological abuse is one of the most common types of abuse occurring in sporting contexts, it has been flagged as an urgent safeguarding concern. Psychological abuse can be enacted in different ways with many associated behaviours. The present study explored one under-researched issue shown to be entrenched in sport culture - 'body shaming' - and how it constitutes psychological abuse. We also focused on the role of the athlete entourage (i.e. people associated with the athlete) in relation to psychological abuse through the body shaming of athletes. Using thematic analysis, three female athletes' stories showed how they were subjected to psychological abuse from members of their entourage when their bodies failed to meet socio-cultural expectations (i.e. too fat, not 'slim to win'). While it was not the central focus of our research, the athletes also explained how they were subjected to physical abuse and physical neglect from entourage members when they were perceived to be overweight or too fat. The athlete entourage members found to be perpetrators of abuse and physical neglect included the coach, the parent, the partner, and the manager. This research provides novel insight into how abuse is circulating through sporting contexts, and in so doing, generates knowledge for prevention and intervention initiatives in sport.
In the present study, post-partum embodied subjectivity of five competitive recreational mother runners of children under 6 years of age, was explored using narrative inquiry from a story analyst and ...a story teller position. This focus expands understanding of sport, embodiment and good mother ideals using narrative inquiry as a novel theory to centralize body-self stories contextualized in cultural narratives. A central theme of 'reimagining the post-partum self' was identified from a story analyst position whereby stories are the objects of analysis. We shifted to storytellers to present the nuanced intersecting meanings of this central theme in the form of three accessible creative nonfiction stories presented as composite vignettes. The three vignettes were: listening to, and learning from my post-pregnant body; new mum, new athlete; and running (re)connects me to myself. These findings expand critical insights into the motherhood, sport and embodiment nexus into the under-studied topic of post-partum recreational sport. Such work opens pedagogical possibilities through telling, and witnessing, stories to highlight constraining and emancipative aspects, of women's physical participation.
In this paper, narrative analysis using a story analyst approach is used to explore how three former athletes (i.e. amateur and elite swimmers) self-managed their abuse experiences post-sport with a ...focus on the use, and meaning, of 'indirect self-injury' forms. Using the concept of 'emotion work', the swimmers' stories show how they reconfigured the emotions associated with the legacy of abuse by using indirect self-injury (e.g. eating disorder; abuse of prescription medications; excessive alcohol use; promiscuity) as embodied resources, after they were left to fend for themselves post-sport. As acquired resources within their self-stories, indirect forms of self-injury assisted them to reconfigure the trauma of abuse into something that was more manageable (i.e. 'emotion work'). While 'emotion work' was storied as successful for the three swimmers in the short term, the potential long-term health consequences of self-injury (i.e. kidney disease; liver damage; unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, death) were imminent. These findings highlight the need for sporting stakeholders to extend their duty of care to athletes, particularly abused athletes, post-sport.
As athlete mothers continue with sport careers and gain visibility in the media, scholars have explored media representations of high profile athlete mothers in discourses, from several disciplinary ...perspectives. This paper focuses on synthesizing these multi-disciplinary qualitative media research findings, to gain understanding of key themes that form complex socio-cultural meanings of motherhood and elite sport. Fifteen qualitative media studies were selected for inclusion in this meta-synthesis after searching eight electronic databases. Our descriptive synthesis of multi-disciplinary literature is presented through three themes: (a) (in)compatibility between athlete and mother identities, (b) motherhood as an individual responsibility, and (c) controlling the body. These findings were further synthesized into two new narrative themes: (a) entitlement to impose and (b) maternal activism and new ethic of care. Future research recommendations include expanding descriptive themes and new narratives through investigating additional mainstream and digital media forms, sport contexts, and intersectional identities.
In this paper, findings from an investigation into the gender imbalance in swim coaching in Australia, particularly at the higher levels of accreditation, are reported. Stories of the experience of ...two elite female swim coaches were analysed with reference to the concept of hegemonic masculinity. Analysis found that some male coaches and attendants to the swimming culture use literal and ideological force, including differentiation, direct control, and trivialisation to enact hegemony and to (re)create a gendered order. The findings suggest that without intervention and (re)education, this ideology will remain uncontested, will continue to inform the practice of coaches in the field, and will remain deeply entrenched in the system of values of the sport's organising body and the federal funding organisation for sports in Australia.
Research shows that athletes across levels and sports have been subjected to maltreatment with non-sexualised forms such as psychological abuse and neglect found to be the most common. With the ...normalisation of many of these forms of abuse occurring in sports, researchers have called for the 'safeguarding' of athletes to focus on prevention through evidence-based education. Yet evidence-based education that teaches about abuse remains limited in the research literature. Further, an examination of educational theory, design considerations and the implications of such applications when applied to learning contexts in sport remains scarce. This paper is the first generated from a project where an online athlete-and coach-led abuse education program was designed, implemented, and evaluated with the purpose of teaching children through to adults (coaches, athletes) about non-sexualised types of abuse, along with the effects of such maltreatment. This paper provides an overview of the educational theory and design considerations, namely Ivor Goodson and Scherto Gill's narrative pedagogy and the use of culturally responsive and culturally relevant content, with challenges and possibilities of these applications outlined. Recommendations are then made, based on facilitator and participant feedback which may assist sporting organisations and child protection agencies worldwide when designing, developing, revising, or implementing their own education programs to teach about abuse.
The need to focus on abuse prevention in sport has been prioritized due to widespread athlete maltreatment occurring across many sports, levels and regions. One recommendation to prevent athlete ...maltreatment is through evidence-based education. Despite this recommendation, surprisingly little has been done in this area. A recently proposed idea is that athlete abuse survivors could collaborate with sport organizations in maltreatment prevention initiatives (e.g. speaking invitations, sharing their stories, education initiatives). However, researchers have warned that when collaborations between survivors and sport organizations occur, and trauma-informed practices are not implemented in a way that engages everyone safely, re-traumatisation may result. The present study is one of the first to explore how abuse survivors can be placed at the forefront of education initiatives that are underpinned by international trauma-informed principles. Two abuse survivors from swimming and rowing facilitated education programs that taught about abuse with other athletes in their sports. Evidence-based trauma-informed practices were embedded throughout the educative process to prevent unintended further harms, in turn creating a 'community of care'. Embedding trauma-informed practices were imperative given the lived experiences of the survivors, and the possibility the education recipients (i.e. athletes) could also be victims of maltreatment. The 'what', 'why' and 'how' of trauma-informed practices are outlined to show the application, and value of this process to not only maltreatment prevention initiatives, but to other levels of sport (e.g. when abuse is reported, selection policy, coach pedagogy).
Within research on retirement due to injury, transitional difficulties (e.g., mental health issues, identity loss) have been identified and linked with a singular athlete identity, early or forced ...retirement, and difficulty comprehending life beyond sport. More research is needed to learn further about the socio-cultural context of athlete retirement and injury. The present study builds on media research in sport sociology and sport psychology, to explore retirement and injury in a cultural context, using relativist narrative inquiry. In this study, the media was explored as a cultural site circulating stories within narratives that convey meanings (e.g., injury is normal) and values (e.g., playing through pain, playing sport as long as one can) that impact athlete's lives. A thematic narrative analysis was conducted on 60 digital news stories of one incident surrounding a high profile athlete in the National Football League (NFL): Andrew Luck's retirement due to injury. A central narrative identified was "football's toll on athlete health." Three small storylines shaped nuanced meanings of Luck's injury and retirement within the central narrative: "defending the retirement," "from superhero to human," and "athlete communities of pain and injury." The theoretical and applied contributions of the findings are outlined. We conclude with what a narrative approach to media stories affords sport psychology, and suggest future research.
Lay Summary: In this study, media stories and narratives that frame them are explored as cultural resources to learn more about athlete retirement due to injury. The findings provide valuable insight into media stories as entry points of awareness, concerning pain and injury linked to mental health, and vulnerability shown through a high profile athlete's stories.
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