Identifying Factors Affecting Talent Identification in Paralympic Sports in Iran

This study aimed to identify the factors affecting talent identification in Paralympic sports in Iran. This qualitative study was conducted using a thematic analysis approach. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 experts in Iran's Paralympic sports (including senior managers, coaches, elite athletes, international classifiers, and national team psychologists) who were selected through purposive sampling. The interview process continued until data adequacy was achieved. Coding reliability was confirmed using Cohen's Kappa coefficient (0.85). Data analysis led to the extraction of 247 initial codes, 42 basic themes, 14 sub-themes, and finally 6 main themes. The main themes included: (1) Athlete's individual characteristics (including physical and psychological characteristics); (2) Family and social contexts (including the role of family and socio-cultural contexts); (3) Infrastructure and support resources (including specialized facilities and equipment, and specialized human resources); (4) Management and governance system (including planning and systematization, financial resource provision, and inter-sectoral coordination); (5) Classification system and specialized guidance (including the scientific accuracy of classification and matching talent with sport and class); and (6) Macro strategies and consequences (including human resource empowerment, strategic development directions, and consequences of talent identification). The findings indicate that transforming the talent identification system in Iran's Paralympic sports requires a multidimensional and hierarchical approach in which reforming the management and governance system should serve as the main infrastructure, followed by targeted investment in physical infrastructure and specialized human resources, then attention to family and social contexts, and finally the institutionalization of scientific classification.