Abstract
This study explored talent-development coaches’ experiences of athletes having faced mental health issues (MHIs). A second objective was to allow participants to share their opinion on how sport environments could improve the support offered to coaches and athletes encountering MHIs. A thematic analysis was performed on 11 verbatim-transcribed interviews conducted with UK-based talent-development coaches. While monitoring and supporting their athletes’ performance and well-being were viewed as day-to-day practice, dealing with MHIs was, however, not considered part of their role for a variety of reasons. Findings also suggest that coaches need more suitable and context-specific knowledge and tools to appropriately respond to and support their athletes. Generating a better understanding of coaches’ perceived role, knowledge, and needs to adequately support their athletes suffering from MHIs is crucial for the design of sport-specific interventions and for the athletes themselves.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 43-53 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Sport Psychologist |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 10 Mar 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 10 Mar 2020 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- coaching
- sport
- talent development
- thematic analysis