Where is Safeguarding in Sport Psychology Research and Practice?

Abstract

Recent cases of sexual abuse of athletes have drawn significant concern amongst stakeholders in sport and the public at-large. The fact that the perpetrators in many cases of athlete abuse had numerous victims over the span of several years raises questions of who might have known or suspected that athletes were being harmed. Sexual abuse cases should serve as an impetus for all of us in sport psychology to interrogate our roles and responsibilities as consultants and researchers in the protection of athletes. We propose that future research in applied sport psychology and education of consultants address maltreatment and safeguarding.

Lay Summary: In the following article, we propose that more attention in the research and practice of sport psychology should be devoted to understanding maltreatment of athletes and ways to protect athletes from harm.