Dialogue in athletics: A program evaluation of a social justice education initiative in high school sports

Abstract Inclusive spaces and relationships that honor athletes’ unique identities are vital to ensure adaptive sport experiences (e.g., Coakley; Kochanek & Erickson). Youth athletes and adult leaders need to possess awareness and skills to foster inclusive sport environments and act as agents who can contribute to positive individual and social change. The prevalence and increased visibility of contemporary social justice issues have underscored the importance of developing such critical competencies. Scholars have recently called for exploratory and collaborative efforts to help athletes and adult leaders develop such critical competencies and carry out evaluation research that examines the effectiveness of programs. The purpose of this utilization-focused evaluation was to assess the impact and relevant processes of a social justice education initiative, Dialogue in Athletics, which used intergroup dialogue pedagogy. The lead author (and program facilitator-facilitator-evaluator) delivered and assessed the effectiveness of Dialogue in Athletics within one interscholastic sports community. A mixed methods convergent evaluation design was used to collect data at the session-specific, pre/post-program, and follow-up time points. Integrated analyses of data from student-athletes (n = 7) and adult leaders (n = 13) revealed that adults showed more marked increases in critical awareness and skills development/transference relative to student-athletes who showed some, though less pronounced, gains following the program. Results revealed favorable shifts in participants’ attitudes, with some variation between athletes and adults. Findings on participants’ program process helped elucidate meaningful aspects of their dialogue experience alongside various sources of discomfort, and barriers to learning transference. Lay summary This evaluation assessed the effectiveness of Dialogue in Athletics, a social justice education program, among athletes and adult leaders within one interscholastic sports community. Results offer initial support for favorable changes in participants’ learning outcomes and relevant program processes. Findings have implications for future program delivery and youth development through sport. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE This formative evaluation lends support for the effectiveness and feasibility of an intergroup dialogue approach to social justice education within the youth sport context. This unique utilization-focused project exemplifies a contextually relevant approach to research that responds to the practical realities of youth sport communities. Additional community-based efforts that use intergroup dialogue (and other frameworks) to help youth and adult leaders in sport develop critical capacities are necessary to build an understanding of social justice behavior change among diverse individuals and sport community settings.