Preventing Sexual Abuse in Disability-Specific Sports Organizations

IMPACT
R3 2018-2019 $50,000

Develop sexual abuse prevention programming and model policies for adaptive sports organizations that addresses the unique realities of athletic organizations for people with disabilities.

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  • Communities

    Adults Athletes Boys Bystanders Coaches Disabilities Girls Men Students Women Youth/Adolescents/Young Adult
  • Products

    Curriculum: ASAP (Adaptive Sports Abuse Prevention) Contact IMPACT
    Resource: Athlete Safety Policy Model policy
    Resource: From The Safe Sport Law To Your Organizational Policies: Preventing Sexual Abuse In Adaptive Sports (Webinar) View the Webinar
  • System

    Sport
  • Level

    Local National

Strategies

  • Strengthen Policies

    Strengthen Policies

    Developed a webinar to address organizational policy and leadership for sexual abuse prevention designed for executive directors and program leaders of adaptive sports organizations. 

  • Enhance Partnerships

    Enhance Partnerships

    The project enhanced work with national Paralympic movement leaders and the pilot was expanded to Spaulding Adaptive Sports Boston, the Access Recreation Conference of New England, University of New Hampshire Adaptive Sports, and Maine Adaptive Sports. The project also brought together leaders from Disabled Sports USA, Adaptive Sports USA, and US Center for Safe Sport for continued discussions about the curriculum. 

  • Learning Circles

    Learning Circles

    While initially planned to pilot curriculum modules in the Boston area, adaptive sports organizations in Maine and New Hampshire expressed interest and will be participating in pilot trainings.

    Presented the curriculum at the National Adapative Sports Conference in Phoenix. 

    Co-Led a Webinar for Adaptive Sports Organizational Leaders: We collaborated with PreventConnect, Raliance, Adaptive Sports New England and the U.S. Center for Safe Sport to create a webinar for adaptive sports leaders. It was attended by 88 people and co-sponsored by Adaptive Sports USA. The majority of webinar participants were new to PreventConnect and reached through outreach conducted by Adaptive Sports USA.

  • Provide Resources

    Provide Resources

    Created and disseminated a replicable curriculum to adaptive sports that trains staff to recognize and prevent abuse. An organizational policy and leadership for sexual abuse prevention webinar designed for executive directors and program leaders of adaptive sports organizations. 

  • Educate & Train

    Educate & Train

    Piloted a 5-session sexual abuse prevention curriculum for leaders, staff, and volunteers of adaptive sports organizations. Conducted 9 pilot sessions (Goal of 6) reaching a combined total of 210 adaptive sports professionals (Goal of 100).

    The first train-the-trainer program for adaptive sports coaches to learn the ASAP curriculum will be held at the National Adaptive Sports Conference in November 2019. 

  • Measure Impact

    Measure Impact

    IMPACT held two focus groups with adaptive sports program staff and one focus group with adaptive sports program athletes. Conducted an anonymous survey of athletes with disabilities from competitive levels ranging from recreational to elite sport. Sought 5 key informant interviews with executive directors and leaders. The pilot curriculum underwent process evaluation prior to finalization. The outcome evaluation was designed in collaboration with the Institute for Community Health. The pretest/posttest assesses changes in knowledge, self-efficacy, behavioral intentions, and the extent to which coaches and trainers are using skills they learned.