Investigation of the relationship between leadership behavior types and self-sufficiency of trainers working with disabled athletes

In this study, it is aimed to examine the relationship between leadership behavior types and self-sufficiency of coaches working with disabled athletes. In addition, leadership behavior types and self-efficacy of coaches were also examined according to various variables (gender, age, educational status, professional experience, coaching certificate level, disability group). The study population of the research consists of active coaches who have acquired the coach visa and registration procedures of the physically disabled, special athletes, visually impaired and hearing-impaired sports federations in the 2021-2022 season in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 44 women and 75 men (n=119) volunteer coaches who were determined by convenience sampling method. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS 25.0 program. In the comparisons, it was determined by Kolmogorov-Simirnov test and skewness and kurtosis values that the data did not show normal distribution and nonparametric tests were used. Therefore, students T test was used for statistical analysis in comparing the difference between two variables, while One-Way Anova analysis was used in the analysis of more than two variables. Post-Hoc analysis was performed to determine the degree of significance between more than two variables. The level of significance in the study was accepted as p<0.05. The relationship between leadership behavior types and self-efficacy was also determined by Spearman Correlation. In the study, coaches' leadership for sport and its sub-dimensions such as trainer and instructor behavior, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support behavior and positive feedback behavior were examined in terms of gender, age, educational status, professional experience, coaching certificate level, disability group. As a result, it was found out that there was a significant difference in social support behaviors related to gender status variable, in autocratic behaviors related to age status variable, and in democratic behaviors according to educational status in the sub-dimensions of leadership. A statistically significant difference was also found in the sub-dimensions of trainer and instructor behavior, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support behavior and positive feedback behavior in variables such as professional experience, coaching certificate level, disability group. There was no statistically significant difference between the self-efficacy levels of the coaches and the variables such as gender, age, educational status, professional experience, level of coaching certificate, and disability group.