Applied Coaching Research Journal Research Journal 5 | Page 30

APPLIED COACHING RESEARCH JOURNAL 2020, Vol. 5
• actual and perceived barriers to
participation and the skills, competencies
and behaviours required of the sport and
physical activity workforce to overcome
these to engage the LGBT+ community and
improve experiences
• whether the current sport and physical
activity workforce is representative of the
local population in Hampshire and, if not,
how it could be more representative of the
LGBT+ community. 
This research is still underway and this
paper presents the key findings from the
quantitative phase of the research, presented
at the UK Coaching Applied Research
Conference in 2020.
Method
The research adopted a qualitative and
quantitative approach. The quantitative
element comprised an online questionnaire
(n= 352), which included three targeted
audiences (LGBT+ participants, LGBT+
workforce and non-LGBT+ workforce). 
Face-to-face interviews and focus groups
are currently underway with four interviews
and two focus groups having been conducted
so far with the three targeted audiences.
Participants were predominantly recruited
from the Hampshire region via established
relationships with organisations who support
the LGBT+ community. However, to boost
the sample, key national partners were
approached to promote the survey across the
country. 
For the workforce (those who support
access to, lead or deliver sport and physical
activity), a key area of exploration was how
comfortable people felt expressing their
gender identity or sexual orientation within
their role. For participants, a key focus
of the survey was exploring participants’
perceptions of competency of the workforce.
Across nine workforce attributes (adaptable,
approachable, experienced, inclusive,
informative, motivating, qualified, supportive
and understanding), LGBT+ participants
were asked to rate 1) the importance of that
attribute, and 2) how well the workforce
performed it. The difference between both
ratings was calculated in order to identify the
greatest needs for learning and development
within the workforce.
Results 1
The analysis of the quantitative data collected
from the sport and physical activity workforce
suggests:
• those who identified as heterosexual were
overrepresented in the workforce and
those who identified with minority gender
identity and sexual orientation groups were
underrepresented
• those who identified as heterosexual felt
more comfortable expressing their gender
identity or sexual orientation in their
workforce role, compared to their LGBT+
community counterparts
The analysis of the quantitative data collected
from LGBT+ participants engaging in sport and
physical activity suggests:
• there was little difference in participants’
ratings of the workforce across the nine
attributes detailed above, by gender
• however, those who identified as Trans were
more likely to feel that the workforce did
not demonstrate the necessary levels of
understanding, inclusivity, approachability
and adaptability based on their perceived
importance
This study was exploratory in nature and focussed on the need to learn about a vulnerable and hard to reach population.
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As a result, the sample size is small and caution needs to be taken when interpreting and generalising these findings.
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