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The abuse narrative in sport: the findings of a framework synthesis literature review
Örebro University, School of Health Sciences.ORCID iD: 0009-0008-6450-2145
Örebro University, School of Health Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3918-7904
2025 (English)In: Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, ISSN 2159-676X, E-ISSN 2159-6778, p. 1-19Article, review/survey (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

In recent years, athletes from around the globe have taken to social and traditional media to share their stories of abuse in sport. Their stories include a love for a sport and dream to become successful, a getting used to and enduring abusive coaching and training methods, and later in life, recognising that their experiences were abusive. The purpose of this article was to explore the abuse narrative in sport by conducting a framework synthesis literature review. A narrative sociological framework informed by Arthur Frank conceptualised the abuse narrative in sport as a process that shapes lives. The descriptive results reveal that scholars predominantly research abuse while athletes are in sport. The thematic results demonstrate that the abuse narrative constitutes three phases, through which athletes get to know the abuse narrative (normalisation), accept and cope with the abuse (embodying), and possibly later in life, recognise that their experiences were abusive (interruption). Importantly, our Frankian interpretations reveal that the abuse narrative silences athletes and prevents them from recognising abuse. Later in life, stories of abuse in sport, told by others, are powerful resources that can interrupt individuals' abuse narrative in sport. While new to qualitative sport sciences, the framework synthesis review method has potential for researching sensitive topics.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2025. p. 1-19
Keywords [en]
Athletes, stories of abuse, silencing, Arthur Frank, qualitative research
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-120653DOI: 10.1080/2159676x.2025.2487700ISI: 001462375600001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105002613104OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-120653DiVA, id: diva2:1953078
Available from: 2025-04-17 Created: 2025-04-17 Last updated: 2025-04-22Bibliographically approved

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Kuhlin, FannyBarker-Ruchti, Natalie

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