Part 3 GLOBAL ISSUES: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE RESEARCH

cover sheet followed the questionnaire stating the exact purpose of the study along
with a guarantee of full anonymity for participating clubs. On the last page of the
questionnaire the clubs could tick to indicate whether they wished to participate in a
follow-up interview. 10 interviews were conducted, typically in the form of group
interviews with two or more members of the club board. All interviewees accepted
that interviews could be taped and transcribed for research purposes.
A representative sample of 48% (n=958) returned the 37-item questionnaire
before the deadline, which can be considered to be satisfactory given the sensitivity
of the study. The questionnaires were electronically scanned and converted to an
SPSS data file. All text strings were typed into a separate spreadsheet and treated
manually according to a thematic content analysis.
The 37-item questionnaire consisted of three parts. The first part contained a
number of general questions about the club, its members and coaches, followed by
questions about recruiting procedures for coaches. The second part included
questions about prior discussion about ethical norms, standards or guidelines with
regard to coach-athlete behaviour. The third part contained questions about actual
case knowledge, response procedures, handling of past allegations and complaints
and, finally, attitudes towards child protection measures.
Key findings
Results from the questionnaires and the 10 follow-up interviews showed that 8%
of sport clubs knew of sexual abuse incidents in their own clubs. Generally, clubs
agreed that preventing sexual abuse in sport was more important than the problems
of eating disorder, doping and fair play.
Accordingly, 60% clubs (n=575) said that they had discussed what the tone and
behaviour in their clubs should be. 80% of these clubs (n=460) said that the Board
had involved coaches in this discussion, 25% had involved members and 10% had
involved external experts. 47% of all sport clubs said that they had informal norms,
21% reported having written norms and 15% said they had formal ethical guidelines
in relation to interpersonal behaviour. Further analyses showed that clubs with written
norms were twice as likely to disseminate their norms to coaches, athletes, parents
and others.
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