Diagnosis on barriers and facilitators found by student-athletes at the University of Brasilia

Abstract

This paper delved into the athletes´ perspectives of barriers and facilitators while balancing their Dual Career (DC) at Brasília University. We conducted semi-structured interviews with four athletes who have competed in sports at International or National levels. Beyond that, we consider only Physical Education students and athletes from Olympic modalities during the research moment. The interviews were done through Microsoft Teams®, and the aid of an adapted script from Guirola Gómez et al. (2018). The data were transcribed and then processed with IRaMUTeQ software, utilizing the categories from the Hierarchical-Descendant Classification (HDC). We analysed the data according to the Grounded Theory (CAMARGO JUSTO, 2013; CHARMAZ, 2006), employing techniques to create initial and focalised codes. Our findings indicate that the main barriers to balancing the DC are: (a) a lack of comprehension of the athlete’s condition by the professors; (b) a lack of mechanisms to access missed content due to sports competitions; and (c) difficulties with justifying absence, even when the athletes were representing the Brasília University in sports competition. On the other hand, the flexible curriculum of Brasília University is the primary facilitator. We conclude that the university needs institutional policies to ensure that students can be supported in their DC, such as actions to guide the academic pathway of athletes (monitoring, tutoring, etc.). Finally, we recommend increasing the research sample size, diversity, and range of undergraduate courses for more in-depth studies.