Safeguarding of National Athletes: Strategies, Solutions and Processes

The aim of the current research was to identify the strategies, solutions and processes for the Safeguarding of national athletes. The present research method is qualitative research and in the form of thematic analysis, and the statistical population includes experts (officials of the National Olympic Committee, federation managers, academic researchers, media activists, athletes and coaches of national teams). The sampling method was purposeful and a semi-structured interview was conducted with 18 participants until theoretical saturation. Coding technique and NVivio software were used to analyze the data. The findings showed that athlete Safeguarding included 113 concepts in 22 sub-themes and three main themes of strategies including, institution-oriented and structural-oriented, society-oriented and participation-oriented, performance-oriented and quality-oriented, technology-oriented and knowledge-oriented; The solutions include institutional and legal, managerial and structural, executive and process, inter-organizational, attitudinal and behavioral, social and cultural, media and virtual space, services and performance, technical and specialized, technology and system, scientific and research and resources. Human and processes include policy and planning, implementation and support, monitoring and performance improvement, prevention of abuse, detection and control of abuse, compensation and support for victims. The current study is the first study conducted in the field of Safeguarding national athletes and has solved part of the huge gap in this field in domestic research. Also, it has provided a coherent view and a comprehensive list of strategies, solutions and processes for the Safeguarding of national athletes for macro and micro level organizations, policy makers and managers at all levels and athletes