The Context of Recreational Sports for Women in Iran

Abstract

Background. Given the importance of women and their role in society, women's recreational sports are considered as one of the major issues in the fields of sports and leisure. Objectives. This qualitative study, which was conducted using an exploratory approach, aims to determine the contextual conditions of Iranian women's recreational sports. Methods. The statistical population of the research consisted of all the experts who had practical and scientific expertise in the fields of recreational sports and women's sports is conducted with a method and was selected using Purposive Sampling and Snowball method. Data collection tools included interviews and note-taking processes. After conducting 17 interviews (with 16 elites and 1 Canon group), the researcher reached theoretical saturation and after the data collection procedure, the data was analyzed using MAXQDA10 software and Qualitative Content Analysis. Results. 1254 initial codes or open codes were extracted after the analysis. To further categorize the data, the codes and raw data were constantly compared based on the similarities and differences, and similar codes were placed under the same category. The initial categorization of codes yielded 51 sub-categories which were further categorized into 22 categories in the next step. The obtained concepts were divided into eight major categories (in stage of selective coding) which consisted of socio-cultural, fundamentals of Islam, political, economic, geographical environments and macro-management, media and advertisement, and sports facility issues. Conclusion. Considering the importance of recreational sports in women, a proper understanding of the context of recreational sports can help the sport managers to apply appropriate strategies to develop it and compensate for its backwardness.

Presenting a Model of Structural Equations Between Psychological Well-being, Religious Beliefs, and Adherence to Recreational Sports Activities

“…Khalaf also support these findings (49). According to a study, the most crucial reason for our country's lack of women's sports is the lack of equipment and facilities (50). These include the lack of access to suitable gyms, the high cost and lack of sports equipment for women, the inappropriate schedule of gyms, and also the lack of attention of officials to women's sports in the community can be an obstacle that leads to low participation of women in sports.…”

Designing Strategies for the Development of Health and Physical Activities of Women in Iran

“…Furthermore, Saadatifard et al in a study indicated that in the leisure pattern of women's sports, the contributing factors include the country's sports' attitude toward championship, different roles women play in society, women's lifestyle, nature of the sport, women's civil rights, domestic and foreign developments in women's sports, intervening factors (e.g., sociocultural, Islamic, and political issues), financial and economic resources, macromanagement of the system, geographical environment, available infrastructure and sports facilities, educational and scientific grounds, external factors, internal factors, finan-cial resources, advertisement, and the media; the strategies (to develop women's sports) include the fundamental strategies of development in the five areas of leisure sports and comprehensive support of women's sports, and its outcomes include the increasing rate of women's participation in leisure sports while introducing the four different types of sociocultural, economic, individual, and management outcomes (7). The framework of leisure sports produced by the present study helps advance sports management.…”