Prioritization of Barriers to Participation in Public Sports by "Promethee Technique"

Introduction: It is important to identify barriers to participation in public sports. The aim of this study was to prioritize the factors hindering participation in public sports by the "Promethee Technique”. Methods: In this descriptive study, the "Promethee Technique” was used to identify barriers to participation in sports and their importance.  The statistical population of this study consisted of all citizens of selected provinces. 1841 people (936 men and 905 women) were selected by simple random sampling based on Morgan table. In this study, the demographic questionnaire and "Constraints of Recreational Sport Participation Scale" were used. Content validity index, construct validity were measured by confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity and reliability (Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient calculation and composite reliability) of the instruments. Data analysis in SPSS. 24, SmartPLS 3.  And Visual PROMETHEE 1.4 software was performed. Results: Lack of time with Phi coefficient 0.1929, fear of injury in sports with Phi coefficient 0.1723, lack of sports facilities with Phi coefficient 0.1220, high cost of sports with Phi coefficient 0.1005, not having enough health to exercise with Phi coefficient 0.1005, fear of unsuccessful sports with a Phi coefficient of 0.0384 is more important because of the Phi positive. Conclusions: Lack of time to participate in sports is a major obstacle. It is suggested that public sports authorities remove individual, structural and cultural barriers and implement incentive programs to increase sports participation.