Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide

Abstract

The Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide (SFCIG), developed by Alexandro Allison-Abaunza and Andrea Woodburn (2025), is a specialized qualitative instrument designed to systematically investigate the economic difficulties encountered by families whose youth participate in competitive sports. The instrument was initially created for a Canadian study focusing on mothers from low-income families in Quebec whose children were enrolled in a demanding Sport-études soccer program.

The guide serves to capture the duality of financial constraints, exploring both exclusionary experiences (barriers to access) and inclusionary experiences (strategies for sustained participation) within this high-cost context. Comprising nine primary items with multiple sub-items, the SFCIG facilitates an in-depth exploration of financial stressors, parental coping mechanisms, and the profound impact of economic barriers on youth involvement in high-level athletic programs.

Keywords

Financial Challenges, Sport Participation, Economic Barriers, Low-Income Families, Qualitative Research, Sport-études, Canada, Parental Attitudes, Financial Strain.

Authors

Alexandro Allison-Abaunza, Andrea Woodburn.

Purpose

The central purpose of the Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide is to provide a structured framework for researchers to examine the complex interplay between family financial resources and youth sport participation outcomes. It specifically seeks to understand the mechanisms of financial exclusion—how costs prevent access to programs—and the requirements for inclusion—the financial sacrifices families make to sustain their child’s athletic career.

The instrument is tailored to elicit detailed narratives regarding specific economic barriers, including costs related to training, specialized equipment, travel, and competition fees. By focusing on qualitative data, the SFCIG offers critical insights into the lived experiences of families, highlighting both the external systemic pressures and the internal familial strategies employed to manage intense economic demands.

Construct

The primary construct assessed by the SFCIG is the multidimensional concept of financial challenges associated with sport participation among economically vulnerable populations. This construct encompasses the tangible monetary costs (e.g., fees, equipment, travel) and the resultant psychological and social burdens placed upon parents and children due to these expenditures.

The guide is structured to help researchers delineate various aspects of financial strain, including the budget adjustments families implement, the perceived fairness of program costs, and the long-term emotional impact of economic sacrifice on parental well-being and the child’s continued commitment to competitive sport.

Validity

As a qualitative inventory designed for exploratory research and in-depth case studies, the SFCIG does not report traditional quantitative measures of validity, such as construct or criterion validity. Its validity relies instead on methodological rigor, including detailed interview protocols and thorough thematic analysis of the rich descriptive data collected from participants.

The initial study establishing the guide employed a targeted sample (low-income mothers in Quebec) and utilized a robust theoretical framework—the Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model—to structure the questions. This theoretical grounding enhances the guide’s face validity and ecological relevance for examining financial barriers in youth sport.

Reliability

No formal statistical reliability data, such as internal consistency coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) or test-retest reliability, are reported for the Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide. This is consistent with instruments employing a strictly qualitative methodology, where the objective is deep, contextual understanding rather than standardized psychometric predictability.

Reliability in this context is established through transparent reporting of the interview process, detailed documentation of coding and theme extraction procedures, and efforts to ensure the trustworthiness and confirmability of the findings across case studies.

Factor Analysis

The Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide is a structured interview tool and is not intended for psychometric scaling; therefore, factor analysis is not applicable. Its internal structure is guided by the PPCT model, which organizes the nine primary items into four theoretical components: Process, Person, Context, and Time. These components define the scope of inquiry rather than statistical factors.

Instrument

Test Type: Qualitative Inventory/Structured Interview Guide

Format: Open-ended responses, structured around nine primary items with multiple sub-items.

Language Available: English (developed in Canada; original research may have involved French translation).

Population Group: Parents of youth participating in competitive sports.

Age Group: Adults (18 years and older).

Population Details: Human; Female (Mothers of children in Sport-études program); Low-income families; Canadian sample.

Test Methodology: Qualitative assessment methods utilizing open-ended questioning and thematic analysis, structured by the Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model.

Keywords

Athletic Participation, Family Crises, Financial Strain, Parental Attitudes, Stress and Coping Measures, Sport and Exercise Measures, Family Income, Exclusionary Experiences, Inclusionary Experiences.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Alexandro Allison-Abaunza: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Research Chair in Safety and Integrity in Sport (SIMS), Université Laval, Canada.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument was developed in conjunction with research published in 2025 (based on the reference date). Specific information regarding usage fees or formal copyright permissions is not explicitly reported. Researchers interested in obtaining the full set of items should contact the authors directly for access and usage agreements. The original study was conducted using data collected around 2024/2025.

Reference’s

Allison-Abaunza, A., & Woodburn, A. (2025). “The truth? I play a lot with my credit card”: A multiple-case study regarding financial challenges in families with youth participating in competitive soccer. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 49(1), 40–66. DOI: 10.1177/01937235241305132

Items of the Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide comprises nine main items, each with multiple sub-items designed to investigate financial challenges in-depth. These items are not publicly available. Researchers interested in obtaining the full set of items should contact the authors or the publisher for access.

Sport Financial Challenges Interview Guide: Components and Corresponding Questions

This interview guide utilizes the Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model to explore the financial challenges associated with children’s sports participation.

Component	Orientation of Question	Question
Process	Identify the interactions of the household with other systems and agents and to specify their nature.	1. Could you give me a brief history of your child’s sports practice? (Proximal and distal processes) 2. Can you describe positive and negative elements related to his or her sports participation? (Proximal and distal processes)
Person	Observe the different characteristics of the household in order to expose certain attributes that play a role in the participation phenomenon.	1. What is the gender and ethnicity of your child? (Demand characteristic) 2. Can you describe your child’s level of athletic ability and skill? (Resource characteristic) 3. How would you rate your level of financial comfort with your child’s participation? (Resource characteristic) 4. How would you describe your child’s motivation and skills? (Force characteristic)
Context	Situate the barriers and facilitators surrounding access to sport for children in the household while outlining budget adjustments for families.	1. Have you made any financial adjustments? If so, what are they? Are there any pressures other than financial? (Systems) 2. What are the financial pressures, if any, generated by the program? (Systems) 3. If you were in charge of your child’s Sport-études program, what actions would you take to make Sport-etudes programs more accessible? (Systems)
Time	To situate all the observed phenomena and to give them a temporal perspective.	1. Could you describe to me the moment(s) in your child’s athletic career when financial pressures emerged? (Microchronology and Mesochronology)