Consideration of Mental Health and Well-Being in High-Level Sport: When Will a Coach-Centred Approach Be Introduced?

Coverage of problems relating to mental health and well-being is gaining ground in the sports sector today, both in the media and in the scientific literature. Despite exposure to numerous stressors and suffering from poor mental health, coaches have in general been largely overlooked in the scientific literature. Previous studies have mainly focused upon athlete populations. The absence of research means that there are real shortcomings in both understanding the mechanisms involved in the deterioration of coaches' mental health and well-being and in the lack of specific support systems available. This paper first describes findings from the recent, albeit quite scarce, research investigating mental health and well-being in coaches. It then proposes a number of avenues for research and support protocols, both of which are currently ongoing at the French Football Federation Research Centre. The aim is to help support these key participants in the sports sector who arguably have not been given sufficient consideration until now.

Coping profiles of adolescent football players and association with interpersonal coping: Do emotional competence and psychological need satisfaction matter?

Using a person-centered approach, the present study aimed to investigate the coping profiles of adolescent football players involved in elite football training centers. The purposes were to (1) identify coping profiles based on the reported use of multiple coping strategies in response to competitive stress, (2) explore whether emotional competencies and psychological need satisfaction would predict coping profile membership, and (3) examine the extent to which coping profiles were differently associated with individual and team perceived stress, interpersonal coping, and subjective team performance, as well as demographic characteristics. A sample of 416 young French football players (males = 282; females = 134; Mage = 16.2; SDage = 1.2) from 12 elite football training centers participated in this study. Latent profile analysis results yielded three coping profiles allowing players to be grouped according to their preferences for a combined use of certain strategies (i.e., low copers, high disengaged copers, and high task copers). Results provided further insight into each coping profile membership by indicating the role played by intrapersonal emotional competence and psychological need satisfaction. Finally, differences between coping profiles have been shown in terms of individual perceived stress intensity, interpersonal coping approach, and gender. These findings provide a deeper understanding of adaptive coping profiles within a population of adolescent football players involved in elite training centers. Implications for developing and tailoring psychoeducational interventions for adolescent football players exhibiting a maladaptive coping profile (i.e., disengagement-oriented coping profile) are considered.

Dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak: Are some athletes' coping profiles more adaptive than others?

The public health policies and sanitary measures taken by governments in various countries to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. lockdown, social distancing) have major implications for athletes. The radical changes are challenging and risk causing significant career disruption to athletes, with subsequent negative psychological effects. Thus, the ways athletes cope with such adversity is of critical importance. The present study aimed to identify athletes' coping profiles using a person-centred approach, based on their reported use of multiple coping strategies in response to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and to compare levels of anxiety, stress appraisals, interpersonal coping strategies, and availability and appreciation of the major sources of support across profiles. A total of 526 French athletes competing at national to elite levels answered an online questionnaire during the lockdown. Latent profile analysis results yielded four distinct coping profiles (i.e. self-reliant, engaged, avoidant, active and social). The MANOVA showed that athletes belonging to the four profiles differed on anxiety, stress appraisals, social support, and interpersonal coping. In particular, avoidant copers reported high levels of anxiety, threat, and uncontrollability, and appeared less able to regulate responses to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. Using a person-centred approach, the findings could inform the development of more adequate care, support, and intervention for athletes, especially avoidant copers, who were characterized by the least effective coping skills and resources. Accordingly, stress reappraisal and stress mindset interventions could be promising approaches to effectively manage pandemic-related impact during and after the COVID-19 crisis.HighlightsThe COVID-19 outbreak has major implications for athletes and is causing significant disruption to their careers. Using a person-centred approach, four coping profiles emerge showing athletes' preferred use of several coping strategies in response.The four coping profiles (i.e. self-reliant, engaged, avoidant, active and social) differentiate distinct groups of athletes in relation to anxiety, stress appraisals, social support, and interpersonal coping.Avoidant copers were characterized by the least effective coping skills and social context of coping. Management of the COVID-19 situation may be more problematic for them than other in mitigating its negative psychological effects.Using a person-centred approach, the findings could inform the development of more adequate care, support, and intervention for athletes, especially avoidant copers, who were characterized by the least effective coping skills and resources.

Coping in Teams: Exploring Athletes' Communal Coping Strategies to Deal With Shared Stressors.

Although sport psychology research has mainly focused on stress and coping as intrapersonal processes, stressful circumstances are often experienced in social groups and coping emerges as a combination of individual and group effort (Tamminen and Gaudreau, 2014). Based on Lyons et al. (1998) model of communal coping, this study aimed to address the lack of knowledge about stress and coping as an interpersonal process, by exploring shared stressors and communal coping strategies within team sports. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 team sport athletes (seven males, three females; M age = 26.3 years, SD age = 7.67, range 15-38) who participated in different team sports (football, rugby, volleyball, ice hockey, and basketball). Data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analytic procedure. The results revealed four themes of shared stressors involving issues relating to social pressure, relationships between teammates, performance, or logistics and organization; and four themes of communal coping, namely: problem-focused communal efforts, relationship-focused coping, communal management of emotions, and communal goal withdrawal. The results provided empirical support to the communal coping model (Lyons et al., 1998) and extend understanding of coping processes as defined initially by the CMRT of emotion (Lazarus, 1999, 2000a). This study provided unique insight into the nature of communal coping in sport and performance setting, and specifically, how stressors are apprehended in team sports and how athletes can collaborate to deal with shared stressors during competitive encounters.