“No One Seems to Know What We Should Be Doing”: A Qualitative Study on Factors Influencing the Implementation of Menstrual Cycle Tracking in Sport

This qualitative descriptive study explores the factors influencing the implementation of menstrual cycle tracking. Eight practitioners (female = 5, male = 3) and six female athletes participated in semistructured interviews to share their experiences with and perspectives on menstrual cycle tracking. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, with data analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: Creating openness and comfortability , struggled bringing that on board , and it’s up to them , which represent the social (e.g., stigma surrounding menstrual cycles), organizational (e.g., practical constraints within specific training environments), and individual (e.g., athletes’ interest in and compliance with tracking) factors influencing the implementation of cycle tracking, respectively. This study highlights the important role of education in addressing these social-, organizational-, and individual-level factors to ensure that athletes and practitioners willing to engage in tracking are equipped to communicate about tracking and act appropriately (i.e., provide feedback or referral) based on tracking data.