Athletes; Health; Psychology, Sports; Sexual harassment; Violence
Abstract :
[en] [en] OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical competence of sports medicine physicians to recognise and report harassment and abuse in sports, and to identify barriers to reporting and the need for safeguarding education.
METHODS: We implemented a cross-sectional cohort study design recruiting through social media and international sports medicine networks in 2023. The survey captured participant perceptions related to the harmfulness of harassment and abuse. The survey incorporated the reasoned action approach as a theoretical framework to design survey questions to identify attitudes and self-efficacy to detect and report suspicions of harassment and abuse and to identify barriers to reporting.
RESULTS: Sports medicine physicians (n=406) from 115 countries completed the survey. The situations of harassment and abuse presented in the survey were described by sports medicine physicians as having occurred in the 12 months before participating in the survey. Despite recognising the situations as harmful, sports medicine physicians were somewhat uncomfortable being vigilant for the signs and symptoms and reporting suspicions and disclosures of harassment and abuse (M=2.13, SD=0.67). In addition, just over one-quarter (n=101, 26.9%) was unaware of where to report harassment and abuse, and over half did not know (n=114, 28.1%), or were uncertain (n=95, 23.4%) of who the safeguarding officer was in their sports organisation. Participants identified many barriers to reporting harassment and abuse, including concerns regarding confidentiality, misdiagnosis, fear of reprisals, time constraints and lack of knowledge. Over half felt insufficiently trained (n=223, 57.6%), and most respondents (n=324, 84.6%) desired more education in the field.
CONCLUSIONS: Educational programmes to better recognise and report harassment and abuse in sports are needed for sports medicine trainees and practising clinicians. An international safeguarding code for sports medicine physicians should be developed.
Disciplines :
Human health sciences: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Mountjoy, Margo ; Family Medicine, McMaster University Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada mountjm@mcmaster.ca ; International Research Network on Violence and Integrity in Sport (IRNOVIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
Verhelle, Helena; Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Mechelen, Belgium
Finnoff, Jonathan T; Department of Sports Medicine, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA ; University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA
Murray, Andrew; European Tour Health and Performance Institute, Virginia Water, UK ; UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport, IOC Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Paynter, Amanda; Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Waterloo Regional Campus, McMaster University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Pigozzi, Fabio; Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome Foro Italico, Rome, Italy ; Federation Internationale de Medecine Sportive, Lausanne, Switzerland
Tooth, Camille ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des Sciences de l'activité physique et de la réadaptation ; REFORM IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health, Liege, Belgium
Verhagen, Evert ; Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University Medical Centres, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Vertommen, Tine ; International Research Network on Violence and Integrity in Sport (IRNOVIS), University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium ; Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Mechelen, Belgium
Language :
English
Title :
#WhatWouldYouDo? A cross-sectional study of sports medicine physicians assessing their competency in managing harassment and abuse in sports.
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