Although severe mental health issues are prevalent among elite athletes, many do not seek help. Mental health literacy (MHL) has been identified as a potential factor influencing help-seeking behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to enhance Chinese elite athletes' MHL, and further to help-seeking attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, as well as to reduce associated stigma. Sixty Chinese elite athletes (M = 17.50, SD = 1.70, 41.67% female) were recruited from badminton and table tennis teams. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted, with an 8-week MHL intervention for the MHL group, while the waiting list control group (WCG) did not participate in any related educational program during the study period. Data were collected at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up. The intervention results showed that participants in the intervention group demonstrated greater improvements in MHL, help-seeking attitudes, and intentions, as well as reductions in stigma, compared to those in the WCG. However, help-seeking behaviors did not show significant improvements at post- or follow-up assessments relative to the WCG. Based on these findings, there is an urgent need for a tailored MHL program specifically designed for Chinese elite athletes. Such a program may contribute to future research on MHL and help-seeking attitudes and intentions in this population. However, given the lack of significant effects on actual help-seeking behaviors, further research is needed to examine whether improvements in MHL and attitudes translate into behavioral change. The intervention shows promise but requires refinement and replication before broad implementation can be recommended.
Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) are a promising approach to enhancing elite athlete wellbeing, yet little is known about the mechanisms through which they exert their effects. Guided by a critical realist approach, we qualitatively explored mechanisms of change during an 8-week MBP (the Mindfulness for Wellbeing program) delivered to 13 elite athletes (8 females, 5 males; M age = 22.23). Data were drawn from participants' stated intentions, practice notes, and semistructured interviews, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. We generated four themes: (1) Wellbeing intentions guide wellbeing outcomes; (2) Developing moment-to-moment awareness to improve positive affect and autonomy; (3) Attending to bodily and sensory experience to support emotional regulation and disengagement from thoughts; and (4) Cultivating self-compassion to enhance growth in sport and personal life. These findings provide contextual insight into further refinement of MBPs to better promote and protect mental wellbeing in elite athletes or other athlete populations.
Coaching frameworks are often developed around neurotypical norms, which may contribute socially constructed barriers to sports for autistic youth. The 5Cs framework was developed to promote positive youth development, build social and mental skills, and enhance performance - skills that have been highlighted as beneficial to sport participation for autistic youth. However, coaches are often not provided with relevant training to effectively promote positive youth development in autistic youth. This study examined coaches' perspectives on the applicability of the 5Cs to autistic youth, drawing on a relativist, interpretivist qualitative paradigm. Reflexive thematic analysis of 8 interviews with coaches experienced in coaching autistic youth identified two themes: coach knowledge and understanding of the 5Cs and autism; and shifting perspective: the diverse reality of autism. Coaches reported limited autism-specific content within coach education, leaving them reliant on informal, experience-based learning that reinforced feelings of precarity when supporting autistic athletes. While elements of the 5Cs were often enacted implicitly, coaches highlighted that the framework's grounded in neurotypical norms constrained its relevance for autistic youth. This this study contributes by critically evaluating the assumptions underpinning positive youth development frameworks. Findings suggest the need to reconceptualise application of the 5Cs through neurodiversity-informed, person-centred, flexible coaching practices attentive to individual sensory profiles, interests, and engagement. This research shows existing coaching frameworks may unintentionally perpetuate ableist assumptions about autistic youth. Findings support the need for neurodiversity-informed coach education to challenge assumptions and better meet the diverse needs of autistic youth athletes.
This study explores features of high-performance sport environments (HPSEs) that support athletes to thrive. Situated in the Danish elite sport context and informed by a holistic ecological approach, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 13 stakeholders, including coaches, performance directors, sport managers, and sport psychologists, representing a range of Olympic and non-Olympic sports. The study is situated within a qualitative interpretivist paradigm,and draws on reflexive thematic analysis to identify features that stakeholders perceived to be important for supporting the joint pursuit of performance and well-being. Seven interconnected features were identified across micro- and macro-level levels of the environment. At the micro level, stakeholders highlighted competitive cohesion, structure and flexibility, psychological safety and compassion, and a whole-person focus as central to supporting athlete thriving At the macro level, thriving was perceived to be shaped by transparent communication and collaboration, integration of short- and long-term vision, and strategic resource use. . Together, these findings demonstrate that thriving may be supported by factors distributed across the broader sport environment rather than solely within the immediate training context. The study extends understanding of thriving in HPSEs by identifying features that may facilitate the sustained pursuit of both high performance and well-being and encourages practitioners to adopt a holistic perspective when designing and evaluating high-performance sport environments, with attention to the environmental features that shape athletes' opportunities to thrive over time
Youth sport participation is widely promoted as a protective factor for mental health. However, this relationship is likely conditional, with data to suggest that sport can either support or undermine youth mental health. Using a constructivist qualitative design, we explored the lived experiences of key stakeholders within the U.S. youth sport ecosystem to better understand how sport structures intersect with mental health. Fourteen semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 64 participants, including youth athletes, parents, coaches, organizational leaders, and individuals involved in funding, policy, and partnerships. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three interconnected themes were identified: (a) The Paradox of Participation, highlighting how performance pressure, social media surveillance, and adult dysregulation erode psychological safety; (b) The Elite Industrial Complex, highlighting how pay-to-play models, early specialization, and identity foreclosure create systemic exclusion and psychological harm; and (c) Reclaiming the Game, which outlines solutions including the professionalization of adults in youth sport, creating protective policy frameworks, and the restoration of developmentally appropriate recreational pathways. Overall, the findings revealed a youth sport ecosystem in a state of crisis, marked by a misalignment between developmental needs and adult-driven, commercialized participation structures. Addressing youth mental health through sport therefore requires systemic reform that prioritizes psychological safety, equity, and human development over elite outcomes.
Emotional and physical exhaustion, as a core dimension of athlete burnout, has long been a persistent concern in sport psychology, and gratitude has been proposed as a potential protective factor. However, prior findings regarding the temporal relationship between gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion have been inconsistent, partly due to limitations in research design and analytic approaches. The present study reexamined the association between athlete gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion using six-wave longitudinal design spanning three years and the random intercept cross-lagged panel model, which disentangles stable between-person differences from within-person temporal dynamics. Participants were competitive athletes who completed measures of sport-specific gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion at six time points. At the between-person level, gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion exhibited a stable negative trait-like association, indicating that athletes who generally reported higher gratitude tended to report lower emotional and physical exhaustion across time. At the within-person level, gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion were negatively associated concurrently, such that momentary deviations in gratitude co-occurred with corresponding deviations in emotional and physical exhaustion. Both constructs demonstrated strong autoregressive stability across waves. Importantly, after accounting for stable between-person differences and temporal stability, no significant within-person cross-lagged effects were observed in either direction. These findings suggest that gratitude and emotional and physical exhaustion are linked through enduring covariation and concurrent within-person coupling rather than short-term directional processes. The results underscore the importance of aligning theoretical interpretations with appropriate temporal and analytic levels when examining psychological adaptation in sport.
Diversionary sport settings vary in structure, purpose and meaning, operating at club, school, charity and governmental levels, shaping adolescent mental health support. Sport and exercise psychology practitioners (SEPs) are capable of fostering psychological safety and introducing emotional-regulation strategies in competitive sport, yet their role in supporting adolescent mental health in diversionary sport settings has not been extensively investigated. This study explored how SEPs might support adolescent mental health in diversionary sport settings. Twenty-two trainee and qualified SEPs participated in an online story completion task. Participants completed fictional, first-person story stems providing insight into how they might address the mental health challenges of adolescents within diversionary sport settings. Approximately 21600 words of story completion data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, resulting in three themes: Creating an Adolescent-Centred Environment, Responding to Adolescents Mental Health Challenges and Context-aware Practice. Participants suggested that they would emphasize psychological safety and adolescents' autonomy before deciding to gently explore or introduce structured guidance to address their mental health challenges. SEPs' diversionary sport practice would be underpinned by cultural humility, holistic understanding and collaborative work. SEPs' therapeutic skills, contextual sensitivity and competence appeared as highly applicable to diversionary sport settings, potentially educating coaches and helping adolescents manage their responses to the wide array of mental health challenges that they face. Diversionary sport represents a viable and ethically complex context for SEP practice, requiring further research on role clarity, targeted training in adolescent mental health, relational work, and context-specific ethical guidance to support psychologically safe, autonomy-supportive practice.
Cohesion is a multidimensional construct that concerns group members' perceptions of unity relative to task objectives and interpersonal relationships. The importance of cohesion in sport may be inferred through associations with key individual and group-oriented correlates. Coaches are critical toward developing cohesion as their behaviors influence group dynamics, and those who act with humility may be influential by accepting feedback, appreciating others' abilities, and maintaining an accurate self-view. Coaches' expressions of humility may also be associated with their team's expression of this characteristic (i.e., collective humility). The present study aimed to determine if athletes' perceptions of coach humility indirectly related to team cohesion through collective humility. Team sport athletes' (N = 259; 126 women; M-age = 17.52) perceptions were obtained at two points in their competitive season. A path analysis was conducted to examine the indirect association between coach humility and cohesion (i.e., task and social) through collective humility. The hypothesis was supported as the results indicated that coach humility was indirectly associated with both task (beta = .20, SE = .12, p < .001, 95% CI [.18, .65]) and social cohesion (beta = .13, SE = .08, p < .001, 95% CI [.12, .47]) via collective humility. These results suggest that coach and collective humility were salient perceptions relative to athletes' perceptions of team cohesion. Overall, the current study provides preliminary evidence of the potential importance of expressed coach humility within sport.
Major sports competitions may pose a threat to athletes' mental health, but few quantitative studies have examined this and these studies have focused on a narrow range of mental health indicators across three timepoints or less. To advance understanding, we used a longitudinal, repeated-measures design to track multiple indicators of athletes' mental health across five phases surrounding a major competition: routine training (approximately 3 weeks pre-competition), tapering (approximately 1 week pre-competition), the day before the competition, the day after the competition, and the recovery period (approximately 3 weeks post-competition). Elite Australian swimmers (N = 36) completed measures of competition-related anxiety, negative mood states (i.e., anger, depression, anxiety-tension, fatigue), positive mood state (i.e., vigor), self-esteem, and perceived stress across the five timepoints. Results from repeated-measures multilevel modeling revealed that negative mood states increased during tapering and on the day before competition, peaked immediately post-competition, and remained elevated into recovery. Perceived stress decreased immediately post-competition compared to earlier phases. Vigor increased as the competition approached, dipped immediately after, and rose again during recovery, while self-esteem and competition-related anxiety remained stable across time. Indicators of athlete mental health fluctuate across the competition cycle, with the preparatory and immediate post-competition phases presenting particular challenges and risk. Findings suggest that mental health support should be tailored to the stage of the competition cycle-for example, strategies to manage stress and anxiety should be prioritized in the lead-up to competition (e.g., relaxation strategies) and strategies targeting the post-competition emotional comedown prioritized during recovery (e.g., goal resetting, social connection).
Sport coaches operate within complex shared environments, yet the functions of social support within their social networks remain underexplored. This study examined the functions of coaches received and perceived social support utilizing an original interviewee-aided photo-elicitation method. Ten coaches (women = 6, men = 4; M-age=35.2, SD = 13.0 years, M-experience=13.5, SD = 9.7 years) participated in two semi-structured interviews spaced three weeks apart. Coaches provided 5-12 personal images that represented their social networks and reflected their places within them. Using abductive thematic analysis, we identified that coaches perceived their social network to be consistent (i.e., availability of support from reliable members), supportive (i.e., space to be heard or receive advice), understanding (i.e., of coaching demands and individual needs), and challenging (i.e., encouraging coaches to be successful). A lack of support was also discussed by one coach who described feeling lost due to limited availability of support. Coaches perceived themselves as central to their social networks and reported that they strive to provide reciprocal support to members of those networks. These findings highlight the role of perceived support in shaping coaches' coping, well-being, performance, and development. Findings of this study support National Governing Bodies and applied sport psychology practitioners by providing understanding of coaches' social networks and perceived support, which could be used to build effective social networks for coaches. In doing so, the findings suggest a need for psychoeducational interventions that enhance coaches' support through network awareness, reflection, and reciprocal functioning.
A mastery-oriented motivational climate focused on personal improvement, teamwork, and effort is linked to positive outcomes among young athletes, whereas a performance-oriented climate centered on social comparison and displaying superiority is associated with adverse outcomes. However, little is known about how these climates change during key developmental transitions in sport. This study examined changes in athletes' perceptions of coach- and peer-created motivational climates during the children-to-youth sport transition (CYT) in Norway, a period characterized by policy changes, increased competitiveness, and greater specialization. We followed athletes through this transition by collecting data on three separate occasions, each approximately six months apart. In total, 425 soccer and handball players aged 11-14 (Mage at time one = 12.16; 47.1% girls) participated in the study, and latent growth curve modeling was used to study changes over time. The results showed a small decline in coach-created mastery climate, along with large increases in coach-created performance climate and moderate increases in peer-created performance climate during the CYT. Notably, decreases in coach-created mastery climate corresponded with rises in coach-created performance climate. Gender differences emerged, with girls showing sharper increases in coach-created performance climate. These findings highlight the value of monitoring climate changes and suggest that targeted initiatives, such as coach training and the promotion of positive peer norms, may support the maintenance of mastery cues as athletes transition to youth sports.
Sports officials operate under high-pressure, are expected to consistently make correct decisions and often face intense public scrutiny. While officials encounter multiple stressors in their roles, little is known about their levels of psychological distress and mental health literacy (MHL), nor how these might impact mental health help-seeking intentions. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between psychological distress and mental health help-seeking intentions and the potential mediating role of influence of MHL. Cross-sectional survey data from 229 Australian sports officials (Mage = 38.5 years) showed 28% of officials reported moderate to severe levels of psychological distress, and 65% had low to below average levels of MHL. Psychological distress was negatively associated with mental health help-seeking intentions, while MHL, specifically knowledge of how to seek help and help-seeking attitudes, was positively associated with mental health help-seeking intentions. Regression analyses showed that MHL was a stronger predictor of help-seeking intentions, with distress no longer significant after adjustment for MHL. However, mediation analyses indicated that neither of the MHL subscales significantly mediated the relationship between distress and help-seeking intentions. The reported low levels of MHL and heightened distress suggest that future organizational strategies consider both the development of MHL and environments in which officials feel safe, supported and confident to act on their knowledge. Overall, our findings suggest that MHL-education alone may not be sufficient to facilitate mental health help-seeking for officials, in isolation from the broader organizational environment that supports officials in feeling confident to access appropriate support services.
Sport-based youth development (SBYD) programs are widely promoted as vehicles for positive youth development, particularly for youth from socioeconomically marginalized communities. While existing research frequently reports favorable developmental outcomes, less attention has been given to how youth themselves make sense of their experiences within these programs and how such meanings may shift over time. Using a community-based participatory approach, semi-structure interviews were conducted with nine Black youth currently enrolled in SBYD programs and four Black adult facilitators who had participated in similar programs during their youth. A youth advisory board, composed of young adults from comparable socioeconomic backgrounds, served as co-analysts throughout data interpretation. Narrative analysis resulted in the construction of six composite narratives organized into pairs (youth narratives and adult counter-narratives) that captured patterned ways youth and adult participants made sense of their experiences within SBYD contexts. Findings revealed important differences in meaning-making across time. Youth participants largely reproduced dominant narratives framing sport as inherently developmental, emphasizing internal skills such as confidence, resilience, and social belonging, while adult participants retrospectively articulated counternarratives that highlighted conditional support, institutional neglect, and the limited conversion of sport participation into long-term social mobility. These narratives illustrate how development is not a fixed outcome of program participation, but an evolving process of sensemaking shaped by positionality, experience, and structural context.
Given the complex, multifaceted, and contextual nature of coaches' experiences with mental health issues, approaches that capture lived experience are needed to move beyond prevalence-based-accounts. This study adopted a narrative inquiry approach, using creative nonfiction to provide an in-depth, nuanced account of Canadian university coaches' experiences and challenges with their own mental health. Eight head coaches, including five women and three men, participated in individual semi-structured interviews. We conducted a narrative thematic analysis using creative nonfiction, subsequently presenting the findings as three composite vignettes that depict fictional characters whose stories represent coaches' experiences and challenges with mental health. The first vignette follows Derek, a men's soccer coach, who discusses how an identity rooted in winning contributed to mental health challenges, and how redefining success supported his well-being and coaching sustainability. The second vignette portrays Serena, a women's basketball coach, as she reflects on an enticing professional opportunity that would affect her work-life balance. The third vignette is from Claire, an experienced swim coach, who reflects on the emotional toll of working in an environment marked by ambiguity around coach-athlete interactions, and how this shapes her perceptions of job security. These vignettes can be shared with coaches and integrated into settings to portray common coaching experiences, reduce feelings of isolation, challenge stigma, and illustrate the complex realities of mental health in coaching. By capturing both moments of distress and moments of meaning, this research contributes to a more expansive and contextualized understanding of this topic in competitive sport.
Mental health literacy (MHL) plays a key role in shaping attitudes and help-seeking approaches regarding mental health. Elite-level coaches who are well-informed about symptoms of mental ill-health and effective help-seeking can not only better support their own mental health needs but help reduce stigma and promote early intervention for athletes they coach. This study investigated attitudes toward mental health among elite-level coaches, including their ability to recognize symptoms of depression and burnout, views on appropriate sources and methods of support, and perceptions of mental health stigma among coaches and athletes. An online survey with four vignettes depicting coaches and athletes experiencing depression and burnout were presented. An international sample of elite coaches (n = 104 men & 39 women) were asked to identify whether anything was going wrong for the individual, how the individual could be best helped, to rate the appropriateness of various interventions (people/medicines/activities/treatments) and stigma-related questions. Analyses revealed that participants were better at identifying depression than burnout among both coaches and athletes. Participants largely perceived medical/psychological interventions (e.g. talking to a mental health professional) to be more helpful for coaches and athletes experiencing depression, while activity-based interventions (e.g. taking leave) were considered more helpful for burnout. Mental health stigma was also low within the sample. Considering burnout is a risk factor for mental ill-health, future MHL interventions should improve coaches' knowledge of stressors and symptoms associated with burnout among athletes and coaches. Furthermore, appropriate clinical supports should be promoted for burnout, rather than advocating for time-off exclusively.
Simply participating in sport is not enough to guarantee the numerous benefits associated with involvement. Consequently, programs like 1616, an evidence-informed and practically relevant positive youth development (PYD) program, have been intentionally designed to improve the sport experience for youth, their parents, and their coaches. The 1616 program uses a unique "role modeling through storytelling" approach to communicate research-informed PYD concepts to youth ice hockey players through the stories of role models (professional ice hockey players) via short, interactive videos. Grounded in a partnership-based approach to knowledge translation (i.e., Integrated Knowledge Translation; Kothari et al., 2017), the video-based stories were developed in two iterative phases aligned with the knowledge creation funnel of the Knowledge to Action Framework (KTA; Graham et al., 2006). Phase 1 ('knowledge synthesis') involved identifying relevant research, selecting key concepts and story themes, determining the story format, and developing the brand voice. Phase 2 ('knowledge product development') focused on selecting role models with stories that exemplified selected concepts and themes, developing their story arcs, outlining the videos, drafting the scripts, and filming and editing the videos. This article describes the story creation process for the 1616 program, offering a blueprint for the development of video-based 'role modeling through storytelling' knowledge products for youth in sport. Lay Summary: This article describes the story creation process for 1616, an evidence-informed and practically relevant positive youth development program that features the stories of professional ice hockey players via short, interactive videos, offering a blueprint for the development of video-based "role modeling through storytelling" knowledge products for youth in sport.
Providing care for someone with dementia can be stressful and negatively affect care partners' well-being. Physical activity (PA) can reduce stress and improve well-being, while social connections in group PA programs can enhance resilience and support coping. Inclusive golf programs have shown positive impacts on individuals with dementia and their care partners; however, research on psychosocial outcomes for care partners remains limited. This study examined: (1) how do care partners experience social support in an inclusive recreation program for people with dementia? and (2) how does participation impact their resilience, coping, and quality of life? Qualitative interviews explored the lived experiences of care partners (N = 6; M-age = 72 years). Interviews and ethnographic fieldnotes from program observations were thematically analyzed. Three themes were identified: (1) a place for us with the subthemes an authentically friendly space and together in the journey, (2) filling my cup with the subtheme "I get to be the wife again", and (3) "it's okay". Staff and volunteers' genuine care and respect created a welcoming and inclusive environment, and opportunities to connect with others in similar roles fostered community and belonging. The instrumental and social support provided through the program enhanced care partners' well-being. Observing other participants offered insights into the progression of dementia and validated care partners' feelings and experiences. Inclusive recreation programs may provide valuable opportunities for social support and connection, strengthening care partners' resilience and well-being.
Talent identification and development are critical components of athlete performance pathways, yet they remain heavily debated in the sports science and psychology literature. Although numerous best-practice recommendations have been proposed, there is a divide between their conceptual value and practicality. The current study attempted to address this gap, adopting a real-time Delphi methodology to capture the perspectives of expert academics and practitioners on literature-derived talent identification and development recommendations. Experts (n = 20) rated each of the 15 Delphi statements for agreement and feasibility using a five-point Likert scale and provided open-text justifications. Real-time feedback allowed the panel to view emerging group consensus and anonymous peer comments. Quantitative results indicated consensus for most recommendations; however, qualitative responses revealed practical barriers to implementation, including limited resources and time, insufficient coach and athlete education opportunities, a lack of meaningful data, and inter-sport competition for athletes. Accordingly, future research could benefit from a shift in focus toward evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of talent identification and development initiatives. Methodologically, this may require longitudinal qualitative research and mixed-method experimental designs that better account for context-specific constraints.
