Safeguarding Sport & Society
The research line 'Safeguarding Sport & Society' conducts quantitative and qualitative research on the characteristics of ...
Project
Safe Para Sport Allies
Safe Sport Allies is a collaborative partnership (Erasmus+ funding) between Thomas More, G-sport Flanders and the LFB (interest group of and for people with intellectual disability). The focus of the project is to tackle harassment and abuse in disability sports by developing, implementing and testing bystander interventions which are tailor made for para-sport coaches.
SPSA
Research shows that sport participants with disabilities have an increased risk of experiencing intimidation and harassment and abuse compared to their non-disabled peers. This project aims to adapt the existing Safe Sport Allies intervention to the specific context of para-sport coaches working with sport participants with an intellectual disability (ID) or cerebral palsy (CP). Available prevention materials do not sufficiently take into account their specific needs and context. We mainly focus on the para-sport coaches.
Coaches spend a lot of time with sport participants and that makes them a crucial person to become a bystander. They are often a ‘first responder’ when violence occurs, and therefore they need to be equipped to recognize, prevent and combat harassment and abuse. The intervention program will help para-sport coaches to become more vigilant and responsive to situations of harassment and abuse towards sport participants with ID and CP.
Objectives
Our objectives are to:
- interview para-sport coaches on their needs with regard to safeguarding;
- raise knowledge and awareness on harassment and abuse in para-sport;
- support para-sport coaches to identify signs of harassment and abuse; and
- stimulate positive coach-bystander behaviour.
Onderzoekers
Researcher
Helena Verhelle
Helena Verhelle has been working in the People and Well-being research group since 2017. Based on her expertise in forensic psychiatry, she participates in several research projects on interpersonal violence.
Researcher
Karolien Adriaens
Karolien Adriaens (PhD) has been working in the People and Well-being research group since 2021. She participates in several research projects on transgressive behaviour: Safe Sport Allies and Safe Para Sport Allies, Safe Sport Project, ASOIF project
Researcher
Tine Vertommen
As researcher, Tine Vertommen built expertise in a wide range of topics in criminology and forensic psychology. Today, she focusses on interpersonal violence in general and more specifically in the sport context.
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