In the context of an increasing clinical need to better support self-management for people living with long-term health conditions an interest in the role of social networks has emerged. Given that sport participation often provides opportunities for social engagement, a space to explore self-management at the intersection of medical sociology and the sociology of sport has opened up. This article presents findings from an exploratory qualitative study with organ transplant recipients who have participated in Transplant Games events – national and international multi-sport competitions for organ transplant recipients. Our findings illustrate how sport-based social networks serve as resources for health-related knowledge, provide participants with additional affective support and help shape health expectations for the future. Although sport-based social networks were seen as an overwhelmingly positive resource for our participants, it is plausible that harmful unintended consequences could arise for patients with existing self-management issues. As such, it is recommended that people seeking to use sport as a tool to enhance illness self-management should consider the various and powerful ways that social networks can be impactful and anticipate the potential consequences accordingly.

在临床上日益需要更好地支持患有长期健康状况的人们进行自我管理的情况下，人们对社交网络的作用产生了兴趣。鉴于体育参与通常为社会参与提供机会，因此在医学社会学和体育社会学的交汇处探索自我管理的空间已经打开。本文介绍了对参与器官移植运动会的器官移植接受者进行的探索性定性研究的发现-器官移植接受者的国家和国际多运动竞赛。我们的发现表明，基于体育的社交网络如何充当与健康相关的知识的资源，如何为参与者提供更多的情感支持，并帮助塑造对未来的健康期望。尽管基于体育的社交网络被认为是我们参与者的压倒性优势，但对于存在自我管理问题的患者，可能会产生有害的意外后果。因此，建议人们寻求将体育作为增强疾病自我管理的工具，应考虑社交网络可以产生影响的各种强大方式，并据此预测潜在的后果。