Lack of policy support for chronic conditions in UK sport: a scoping review of National Governing Bodies
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Introduction
National Governing Bodies (NGBs) for sport in the United Kingdom (UK) are responsible for establishing standards and ensuring safe, inclusive participation for all athletes, including those living with chronic health conditions (CHCs). Despite recommendations to safeguard individuals with CHCs in sporting environments, the extent and quality of policy provision by UK-based NGBs remain unclear. This scoping review systematically examined the availability and content of health-related policies across NGBs, with a focus on support for athletes with diabetes and other CHCs.
Design
Scoping review.
Data Sources
Policy documents of NGBs were accessed through publicly available materials on their official websites. All NGBs were contacted by email to confirm the existence of relevant policies, and to request any policy documents not currently included on their website.
Eligibility Criteria
Sports were included if their NGB had a publicly accessible website.
Results
Of 185 NGBs, 20 (11%) had policy documents that mentioned diabetes, 14 (7.7%) asthma, 12 (6.6%) epilepsy, 4 (2.2%) allergies, and 54 (29.7%) transgender. Of the 20 NGBs with documents mentioning diabetes only 4 had dedicated diabetes policies. The remaining 16 referred to diabetes in broader documents.
Conclusion
Despite increasing emphasis on inclusion in sport, few NGBs have clear policies to support individuals with type 1 diabetes or other chronic conditions but a third of them have developed policies for transgender inclusion. We recommend the development of national policies for diabetes and other CHCs, which can be adapted by individual sporting bodies to suit the specific needs of their sport.
What is already known?
Regular physical activity reduces long-term complications, and improves well-being in people with chronic health conditions, including diabetes, however many people with diabetes are not meeting recommended levels of physical activity.
National Governing Bodies play a key role in encouraging and supporting people with chronic health conditions to participate in physical activity and to ensure their safety.
Coaches often lack the necessary skills to support individuals with chronic health conditions.
What this study adds?
Out of 185 National Governing Bodies in the United Kingdom, only four (2%) have dedicated policies to support people with diabetes.
There is similar lack of support for people with epilepsy, asthma, and severe allergies.
How this study might affect research, practice or policy
We recommend a national diabetes sporting policy is developed that can be modified by National Governing Bodies to reflect the needs of their specific context.
Similar policies should also be introduced for other common chronic health conditions, including epilepsy, asthma, and severe allergies.
Equity, diversity, and inclusion statement
The author group is gender balanced and consists of junior and senior researchers from a range of disciplines and ethnic backgrounds, based in the UK and one African country. Our study population included sports organisations in the UK; thus, findings may not be generalisable to settings with fewer resources.
