Given that parents have been identified to have an important role in supporting their injured child, it is surprising that the impact of athletes' injuries on parents has received limited research attention. Two research questions guided this study: In what ways are parents of elite athletes affected by their injuries, and how do they navigate these effects? Framed within a generic qualitative inquiry approach, 14 parents of elite athletes (n = 7 mothers, n = 7 fathers) participated in interviews and timelining. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019), and methodological rigor was enhanced through self-reflexivity, member reflections, and external reflections. Four themes were identified: "The unknown" represents the uncertainty surrounding injury, framed within the culture and vow of silence; "between a rock and a hard place" reflects power dynamics, conflict, and the binary decision and consequences of whether parents should "toe the line" and do what is expected of them or resist and challenge the status quo; "them before us" reflects parental labor and the multiple roles, responsibilities, and personal sacrifices they make during the elite athletes' injuries and the impact it has on them (e.g., burnout, mental health); and "keeping up appearances" focuses on parenting as a social performance and the experiences of performing positivity. This study offers original insights into parents' experiences of elite athletes' injuries, suggests various theories for future researchers to consider that could advance the field of sport injury psychology, and recommends the need to work with rather than on parents to codesign resources to support their needs.
Although sports-based interventions have shown positive effects on mental disorders, research on their effectiveness for borderline personality disorder (BPD) remains scarce. To address this gap, we developed and tested the sports intervention Inducing Emotions, Mindfulness, Perfectionism, Awareness of Self, Cooperation, and Trust, targeting BPD-relevant domains (e.g., emotion regulation, mindfulness) within structured sports therapy sessions. Understanding the impact of each module and their relevance to patients' improvements is essential for optimizing the intervention and tailoring it to individual needs. Within an inpatient dialectical behavior therapy program, N = 104 patients with BPD participated in a 6-week intervention comprising 12 sessions. Before and after each session, participants completed questionnaires assessing constructs targeted in the respective modules. Changes over time and session-specific changes were analyzed using linear mixed models (n = 69). Lasso regression was used to identify predictors of symptom change (n = 40). No significant within-session changes from before the first session of one module to after the second session of each module were identified. Over the course of the intervention, self-efficacy increased and deterioration in emotional regulation was reported. An improvement in patients' sense of control predicted a reduction in borderline symptom severity from baseline to post-intervention. Improvements in sense of control-particularly the ability to tolerate loss of control and regain control-may constitute a key mechanism of change in sports-based interventions for BPD. The absence of within-session changes warrants further investigations including extension of individual modules while reducing the overall number and offering Inducing Emotions, Mindfulness, Perfectionism, Awareness of Self, Cooperation, and Trust outside a multimodular therapy setting to prevent potential ceiling effects.
