Breaking the silence: Phenomenological unveiling of the hidden impact of abuse on Iranian athletes

Abstract

Abuse is a social concern in all life affairs including sports. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived experience of Iranian athletes who had been abused in sports. The participants were six athletes who had experienced abuse in sports. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, they were selected through the purposeful snowball sampling method. The results of the research showed seven main themes in the Iranian athletes’ experience of abuse in sports: (1) stigma, (2) suppressed hatred and anger, (3) psychological pendulum of continuing and abandoning sport, (4) trampled emotions, (5) ambiguity and imposed harassment, (6) victimhood, and (7) feelings of self-blame. Our findings indicate that abuse among athletes is a multifaceted issue that can take different angles. A better understanding of abuse in sports can help prevent and manage this phenomenon.

Keywords:

• Abuse
• lived experience
• prevention
• harassment
• stigma

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all participants in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical considerations

The implementation of this study was approved by the ethics committee of Tarbiat Modares University registered in the automation system by the Specialized Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research under the code IR.MODARES.REC.1400.044. To comply with ethical considerations for people participating in the research, the purpose of the research, research procedures, risks and benefits of the research, and the nature of voluntary participation in the research were stated. In addition, the participants in the research were assured that the information obtained from them would remain confidential and the results of the research would be published without mentioning their names. To accomplish this, during the transcription of the interviews, all the names were changed to codes, and during the data analysis and interpretation of the results, they were referred to only using the given codes. Finally, a contact number and address were supplied for the participants in the research to make two-way communication possible should more information be needed and to provide a copy of the article resulting from the research if the participants wished to have one.

Data availability statements

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the obligations of authors to Tarbiat Modares University for data protection, but they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was carried out with the financial support of the National Olympic Academy of Iran.