Survey of 779 coaches finds gaps in confidence on female athlete needs

The University of Agder reported on 7 October 2026 that a survey of 779 coaches of female athletes in Norway and Sweden found they rated several topics concerning girls and women as important while giving their own knowledge lower marks. A separate study of eight retired Norwegian elite athletes describes how their relationships with coaches shaped whether they felt able to raise concerns about their bodies and training.

The findings bear on how coaches are prepared to work with female athletes, but they answer different questions. The survey records coaches’ assessments of their own knowledge; it does not test that knowledge or measure athlete outcomes. The interviews offer detailed accounts of former athletes’ experiences, rather than an estimate of how often those experiences occur across sport.

What the Norway and Sweden coach survey measured

The survey study included 666 coaches from Norway and 113 from Sweden. It asked them to rate both the importance of, and their own knowledge about, five areas: sex hormones, individual differences, puberty, weight and body composition, and menstruation. Across the sample, importance ratings exceeded self-evaluated knowledge ratings, a difference the authors reported as statistically significant.

That gap describes how respondents saw their preparation, not a finding that every respondent lacked the knowledge to coach safely. The researchers collected answers through a survey offered in Norwegian and Swedish. They did not test whether a coach’s response predicted anything about an athlete’s training, health or decision to remain in sport.

The authors measured perceived importance and self-evaluated knowledge, not every part of coaching practice. In particular, they did not measure psychosocial competence as a standalone construct. The results therefore identify a subject for coach education without showing which form of education would change coaches’ behaviour.

What eight retired athletes told researchers

In the separate interview study, researchers spoke with eight retired Norwegian elite female athletes who had competed internationally and had been retired for at least a year. The participants were selected purposively, and the study examined their accounts of coaching, menstrual health and whether they felt able to speak about physical concerns.

The researchers described two narrative patterns drawn from the interviews. Four accounts were marked by safety, dialogue and trust; four described constrained environments in which silence was common. Those patterns were constructed by the researchers to interpret the interviews, rather than fixed categories into which athletes can be sorted.

Some interviewees recalled holding back concerns about menstrual health, pain or energy. Their accounts contrasted those experiences with coaching relationships in which they felt able to discuss bodily signals and work with a coach on training adjustments. In the university’s account, Ausland emphasized listening and trust as features of the more open relationships.

These are retrospective accounts from a small, selected group. They cannot show how common either pattern is among female athletes generally or establish that a particular coaching approach caused an injury or prevented one. The interviews add athletes’ experiences to the survey findings, but the two studies did not evaluate an intervention or demonstrate a change in health outcomes.

The evidence base and the next step in coach education

The wider research context has a documented imbalance. A 2021 European Heart Journal analysis examined 5,261 papers in six sports and exercise science journals published from 2014 to 2020. It reported that females made up 34% of the studies’ 12,511,386 participants and that 6% of papers focused exclusively on females. That analysis concerns sports research generally; it does not measure the preparation of the coaches in the new survey.

The University of Agder says Ausland and colleagues Bård Erlend Solstad and Monica Klungland Torstveit developed a FIDES Coach Education Programme based on the research. Its account says the course was translated into English with support from the International Olympic Committee. It provides no evaluation showing whether the programme changes coaching practice or athlete outcomes. For now, the studies establish a reported confidence gap and describe athletes’ experiences of communication, while the effect of a course remains an open question.