Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 University of Tehran
2 University Of Tehran
Abstract
The present study aims to explore Afghanistani refugees’ lived experience of sports participation barriers. A qualitative–phenomenological methodology was adopted. The statistical population consisted of Afghanistani coaches and athletes in Iran. A total of 13 participants were selected by using the snowball sampling method at the maximum variety. In-depth interviews were performed, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Then, the sports participation barriers of Afghanistani refugees in Iran were identified and classified into nine categories and forty-seven sub-categories. The categories included economic, racist, individual, socio-cultural, family, managerial, media, and information ones. Finally, interpretative structural modeling (ISM) was employed to rank the barriers and build the model. The results indicated that legislation was the most important and influential barrier to the participation of Afghanistani refugees in sports in Iran. Thus, it is suggested that new, transparent, and updated laws are enacted to facilitate the sports activities of Afghanistani refugees so that both the community of refugees and the Iranian society could enjoy the consequent advantages of Afghan refugee participation in sports.
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