Non-accidental Violence in Sport
Article summary
This study offers a systematic qualitative review about organizational antecedents of non-accidental violence in sport. The authors seek to understand harmful interactions between individuals and examine participants' interpretations of their experiences. A qualitative systematic review allows synthesizing information, reexamining, and comparing findings from multiple studies. It also enables critical systematic reflection of non-accidental violence from an organizational perspective.
The authors reviewed 43 publications selected using the PRISMA framework. The results show that structural factors and motivational factors contribute to non-accidental violence in sport. Specifically, organizational tolerance, conformity to values, power imbalance, and instrumental beliefs are most conducive to psychological abuse. For instance, some coaches and even athletes use instrumental beliefs to drive performance, avoid failure, and keep interpersonal control. Tolerance and conformity to values coupled with instrumental beliefs and winner-takes-all are accessories to physical abuse. For example, some athletes use physical abuse on the field to undermine their competitors. Finally, sexual abuse is more likely when there is tolerance, power imbalance, and isolation, either physical or psychological.
This blog post presents a brief summary of the article's key findings as an introduction to the topic. There is valuable information to be gleaned from reading the entire article. Graduate students are responsible for finding the article, interpreting the content, and discussing its content as it pertains to the course assignment(s) so they can make individual progress towards the course's assessment standards. The skills gained from completing these activities are helpful during the course, in preparing for comprehensive examinations at the end of the program, and post-graduation. There is a presentation in the video below by Marquis that you may also find helpful.
