Research project In this project, the Swedish Floorball Federation’s (SFF) ongoing process to include parasport in their organisation is investigated. This process is part of a larger organisational change within the Swedish Sports Confederation, where the sports that are administered by the Swedish Parasport Federation will be transferred to the other national sports organisations.
In this project, the SFF’s ongoing process to include parasport in their organisation is investigated. Through quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, the study investigates which prerequisites that exist regarding the inclusion of parasport athletes, on different levels within the SFF.
This project is an example of practice-based sports research, and it is conducted in cooperation with the SFF. Questions that are central to this study are: which opportunities and obstacles exist for a successful inclusion? And what preparedness to implement the process exists on different organisational levels? Another central question in this study is what is achieved through the strategic work within the SFF, where regional cooperation is used as a method to enable successful inclusion.
The project consists of two parts. During the period 2020-05-01 to 2021-04-30, the prerequisites for a successful inclusion within different levels of the SFF have been studied. During the period 2021-05-01 to 2022-04-30, the study focuses on what is achieved through the strategic work within the SFF, with regional cooperation as a method to enable successful inclusion.
Through dialog with representatives for the SFF, three areas were defined that are central to investigate for a deeper understanding regarding prerequisites for an inclusion process. These areas are Opportunities, Obstacles, and Preparedness. Opportunities are perceptions about positive aspects that the inclusion can bring for Swedish floorball. Obstacles are perceptions about challenges or barriers for a successful inclusion. Preparedness refers to knowledge about the inclusion process as well as its goals and purposes. A successful inclusion requires that different organisational levels in floorball engage in the process. The three chosen areas have therefore been investigated in federation-, district-, club- and athlete level. This has been done through both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods with questionnaires and interviews.
In this part of the study, we follow the dialogue meetings that are arranged throughout the year with participation from representatives for the SFFs districts, the Swedish Parasport Associations districts, and the Swedish Sports Confederations districts. The effect that these dialogue meetings will have is investigated through focus group interviews with representatives from the SFF, the Swedish Parasport Association and the Swedish Sports Confederations districts. To gain a wider understanding of the dialogue meetings effects in the involved organisations, questionnaires will also be used in the study.
