Psycho-Social Challenges of Iranian Paralympic Athletes

According to Van de Vliet (2012), the importance of psychological aspects of sport for athletes with disability are the same as its medical aspects. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the psycho-social challenges of Iranian Paralympic athletes, using a qualitative phenomenological study. In so doing, 60 paralympic athletes (40 male and 20 female) who were selected through purposeful sampling were included in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed through thematic analysis. After preliminary processes, Paralympians’ challenges were categorized in two themes: psycho-social challenges (communicational, Family and financial issues) and psychological challenges (sport anxiety, concentration, depression, Sleep problems, ADHD, PTSD), each category covers several codes. paralympic athletes reported that they experienced considerable emotional highs and lows in Professional sports atmosphere. They showed how psychological functioning included protection of self, combining life with elite sport and functional relationships. The importance of conceptualizing paralympians’ challenges is reflected in the identification of different issues and problems. Recognizing and understanding the kinds of challenges that paralympians’ experience may help design the services required to support the athletes through this elite sporting experience.