Design and preliminary validation of the Barriers to Sports Coaching Questionnaire for Women in South Africa: An application of the ecological model

The purpose of this study was to develop and preliminarily validate a questionnaire to examine barriers to coaching that are encountered by women sports coaches in South Africa. Two series of studies were conducted to assess content and face validity, factorial structure, and reliability of a new questionnaire. In study one, 40 items were developed based on LaVoi and Dutove’s ecological model of barriers and supports for female coaches and a thorough literature review. A panel of experts was employed to explore content validity and suitability of the provisional items. In study two, an initial 35-item questionnaire (the Barriers to Sports Coaching Questionnaire for Women; BSCQW) was administered to 152 women sports coaches who were working in South Africa. Principal component analysis was used to reduce items and determine the factorial structure of the questionnaire. Analyses resulted in a 32-item BSCQW, which consists of intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, and socio-cultural barriers to coaching. The most proximal barriers were organisational (M = 2.71, SD = 1.24) and interpersonal (M = 2.22, SD = 1.04). The findings indicate that the overall internal consistency of the BSCQW was .81, demonstrating that the questionnaire was reliable. Thus, BSCQW is a valid tool to assess barriers experienced by women sports coaches in South Africa. Further rigorous psychometric assessments are warranted.