{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T15:04:13Z","timestamp":1790003053814,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":20,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003965","name":"International Olympic Committee","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003965","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The purpose of this study was to explore athletes\u2019 perspectives on existing US Olympic &amp; Paralympic Committee (USOPC) resources and to identify their recommendations for enhancing future initiatives aimed at promoting Paralympic athlete health, well-being and performance.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Phenomenological qualitative study<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Online.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A convenience sample of 19 Team USA Paralympic athletes 18 years of age or older participated (female n=11; age 31\u00b19 years) representing four categories of conditions recognised by the International Paralympic Committee (muscle and movement, bone-related, visual and central nervous system).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The resulting codebook included 2 themes and 10 corresponding categories. Theme 1, titled Resources for Paralympic Athletes, includes five categories: (1) community-level; (2) university-level; (3) USOPC; (4) National Governing Body and (5) Resources Access, Awareness and Satisfaction. Theme 2, titled Recommendations for Improvements to the USOPC, also included five categories: (1) sports medicine; (2) disability-specific needs and classification systems; (3) sports performance; (4) resources and (5) community awareness. Study participants recognised meaningful improvements in organisational support, including expanded financial assistance and mental-health services yet persistent structural inequities continue to limit equitable access to high-quality resources. Fragmented and geographically uneven sports medicine, coaching and performance infrastructures, along with ongoing challenges in classification transparency and disability-specific programming, remain key barriers to athlete development.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Findings highlight the need for decentralised clinical and performance networks, enhanced evidence-based classification practices and more robust transition planning from collegiate to elite settings. Including athlete perspectives and strengthening equitable resources creates more accessible, consistent and performance-optimising environments within the US Paralympic system.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-116076","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T14:26:46Z","timestamp":1790000806000},"page":"e116076","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Qualitative investigation evaluating Team USA Paralympic athletes: resources and recommendations for enhancing support systems"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6653-1363","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Melissa K","family":"Kossman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Professions, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4080-6271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashley N","family":"Triplett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Division of Sports Medicine, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"United States Coalition for the Prevention of Illness and Injury in Sport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0268-0460","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric G","family":"Post","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"United States Coalition for the Prevention of Illness and Injury in Sport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"},{"name":"Department of Sports Medicine, United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Travis","family":"Anderson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"},{"name":"United States Soccer Federation, Atlanta, Georgia, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cheri","family":"Blauwet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amber","family":"Donaldson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Division of Sports Medicine, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"United States Coalition for the Prevention of Illness and Injury in Sport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Morgan R","family":"Eckenrod","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jonathan","family":"Finnoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee Division of Sports Medicine, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"United States Coalition for the Prevention of Illness and Injury in Sport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"},{"name":"University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Victoria L","family":"Goosey-Tolfrey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK"},{"name":"Loughborough University Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport, Loughborough, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6617-2783","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephanie","family":"Tow","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heather L","family":"Thornhill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"William M","family":"Adams","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK"},{"name":"Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA"},{"name":"Adams Sports Medicine Consulting LLC, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA"},{"name":"The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, 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