Developing and Empirically Evaluating a Health-Oriented Participatory Sports Competition Model in Iran: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

Participatory sport events are increasingly promoted as vehicles for physical activity and public health, yet event exposure alone does not guarantee sustained participation. This study developed and empirically evaluated a context-sensitive organizational model for health-oriented participatory sports competitions in Iran. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was used. In the qualitative phase, 15 experts in sport management, sport-for-all, public health, and event delivery were recruited purposively and theoretically. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using classical grounded theory with open, selective, and theoretical coding. The emergent framework was operationalized for quantitative professional evaluation in 400 respondents with relevant sport, health, municipal, federation, or event-management experience. PLS-SEM was used to assess the measurement and structural models. Qualitative analysis yielded 106 initial codes, 41 subcategories, and 13 main categories organized into four higher-order dimensions: institutional and strategic requirements; participation and health architecture; responsible implementation assurance; and learning and health legacy. The core category was transformation of episodic competition into sustainable health-promoting participation. In the quantitative professional-evaluation model, all four dimensions were positively associated with the expert-rated sustainable-participation construct: responsible implementation assurance (β=0.332, t=8.246, p<0.001), learning and health legacy (β=0.302, t=7.628, p<0.001), participation and health architecture (β=0.238, t=6.328, p<0.001), and institutional and strategic requirements (β=0.209, t=5.067, p<0.001). Together they explained 49.9% of the variance in the outcome construct (R²=0.499). Measurement quality and model fit were satisfactory (factor loadings 0.833-0.908; SRMR=0.042; estimated-model NFI=0.915). The findings support an integrated organizational framework for planning, delivering, and evaluating health-oriented participatory competitions. Because the quantitative phase used cross-sectional professional judgments rather than longitudinal participant behaviour, the model should be interpreted as an empirically supported framework of perceived organizational conditions for sustainable participation, not as direct evidence of sustained physical activity or public-health effects.