There is limited research offering experiential knowledge of severe mental illness in elite athletes. Adopting a narrative approach, this study explored how an Olympic athlete constructed his illness identity and how this construction shaped his experience of living with bipolar disorder. We conducted five semi-structured interviews with Darrel, a male Olympic athlete diagnosed with bipolar disorder, over a ten-month period in the lead-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 10 hours of data were collected, with interviews an average of 90 minutes in duration. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using dialogical narrative analysis, attending to both the content of Darrel's stories and the ways in which he told them. Through various storytelling strategies, Darrel constructed a de-stigmatised illness identity that reinforced his sense of self as an athlete. His narratives emphasised athletic accomplishment despite - and sometimes because of - his bipolar disorder. He distanced himself from the stigmatised stereotypes of severe mental illness by telling stories of his high functioning. Emotionally difficult moments were laced with humour, while manic episodes were portrayed in a glamourised way. These narrative strategies appeared to manage self-stigma and resist the potentially marginalising meanings associated with mental illness in elite sport. However, such storytelling also has implications for how others perceive and respond to athlete distress. For example, the glamourisation of mania may lead staff to underestimate the severity of the athlete's mental illness. This study demonstrates the value of narrative methods for exploring how athletes make sense of severe mental illness and construct identities within the cultural context of elite sport.

Background This study has two objectives: (1) to identify the attitudinal and demographic factors most closely associated with performance-enhancing drugs (PED) use in sports; (2) to propose a new method for estimating PED use prevalence that mitigates the limitations of self-report surveys. Methods We analyse survey data from a sample of 2113 athletes attending ten UK universities, using a two-step approach. First, Bayesian Variable Selection (BVS) is used to identify the factors most closely associated with PED use. Second, these factors are incorporated into a Bayesian Profile Regression (BPR) model to identify clusters of athletes with similar attitudes toward PEDs. The prevalence of PED use is then estimated by linking these clusters with reported PED use via a logit model. Results Four key factors are significantly associated with PED use: being male, believing PED use is necessary to excel in sports, having a perceived estimate of PED use prevalence among elite athletes higher than the sample average, and having a perceived estimate of PED use prevalence among sportspeople in general higher than the sample average. BPR identifies four distinct clusters of athletes: (1) non-users; (2) use-admitters; (3) use-admitters and non-admitters; (4) most likely non-users. Using this new methodology, PED use prevalence is estimated at 13.7%, considerably higher than the 3.4% obtained through direct questioning. Conclusion The proposed method identifies attitudinal and demographic factors associated with PED use and provides a more accurate estimate of its prevalence, which can inform the development of more effective anti-doping programmes.

This paper presents a novel theoretical framework for understanding family well-being (FWB) in elite swimming. It uses qualitative data from longitudinal interviews with families of elite swimmers in Cyprus to show the importance of understanding the impact of FWB on athlete well-being. Adopting an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, a year-long study was conducted to understand the experiences of four Cypriot families with an adolescent swimmer who had Olympic potential. The study employed four rounds of individual interviews with each family member to explore in-depth well-being, family life and elite sporting experiences. The findings revealed that a mutual sense of FWB was characterised by health, emotions and a sense of belonging and worthwhileness. We argue for the need to move from individual accounts of athlete well-being to multidimensional models that help to understand the sociocultural contexts and complex relationships that impact how athletes feel. Our research argues that understanding athletes’ well-being cannot be separated from the environment and communities in which they live and practise their sport, and explores this issue through the family context.

Sport pedagogue-learner interactions encompass complex dynamics of (who, what, when, where, why, and how) speaking and listening acts. As discursive practice normatively frames embodied, pedagogic, and socio-cultural values/biases beyond information transmission, coach-athlete dialogues (CADs) mediate their way of being-in-the-world across multi-dimensions. Recognising this significance, a growing body of qualitative coaching research has applied methodological creativity to seize the in-situ moments of CADs and grasp their emergent, contextual, and nuanced nature, instead of repeating the prominent tendency to manufacture CAD into half-stories of coaches' behaviours as speakers or athletes' perceptions as listeners. Nonetheless, the methodological trajectories of such qualitative research (i.e. extant progress, potential limitations, and possible future directions) have seldom been scrutinised. Therefore, this article presents a scoping review on the design and practice of qualitative methods used in 41 CAD studies published from 2000 to 2024. The analysis reveals four major themes: (i) instructor-centred perspective; (ii) space before place; (iii) insufficient attention to non-verbal language-use-in-interaction; and (iv) imbalance of emic-etic approaches. The findings are expected to provide qualitative coaching researchers with reflexive sources for their own and participants' CAD-related reality (ontology) and knowledge (epistemology), especially when crafting methods to better uncover the in-situ complexities of sport coaching.

A multi-disciplinary approach is considered best practice when supporting athlete mental health and illness within elite sport. However, research is yet to explore how multi-disciplinary teams operate in this area. This study explores how multi-disciplinary team staff understand mental health and illness and how they negotiate the interpersonal dynamics and tensions of a multi-disciplinary approach to supporting athletes. We conducted five focus groups with a total of 19 participants across a range of professions, including: sport psychologists (n = 6); coaches (n = 4); physiotherapists (n = 2); performance lifestyle advisors (n = 2); clinical psychologists (n = 2); player care managers (n = 2); and a doctor (n = 1). Eight hours of data were collected, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. We constructed three primary themes: 1) an (over)medicalised understanding of athlete mental health concerns; 2) division within multi-disciplinary teams; and 3) tensions when negotiating confidentiality. Staff showed an over-medicalised understanding of mental health and illness and expressed uncertainty in recognising and supporting sub-clinical mental health concerns. Participants spoke of the divide between coaching staff and science and medicine staff and suggested diverging priorities surrounding mental health and performance. Negotiating confidentiality was a challenge for multi-disciplinary teams, with mental health information guarded by some staff, leaving other staff feeling isolated. However, it was acknowledged that some mental health information must be withheld from coaches due to mental illness stigma. Guidance regarding sub-clinical concerns and the handling of confidential mental health information within multi-disciplinary teams should be developed to encourage effective collaboration within sporting organisations.

The Paralympic Games have enjoyed a recent acceleration in profile, commercial value, and investment. Meanwhile, attempts to cheat the classification process have emerged as the greatest threat to the integrity of Para sport. Despite the classification process being essential to Para sport, the phenomenon of cheating classification remains significantly underexplored. Using a three-round Delphi survey, a panel of 29 individuals with firsthand experience of the classification process prioritised four actions to reduce the threat of cheating classification. The actions related to (1) the content of compulsory education that athletes should receive prior to classification; (2) video recording the classification process; (3) longer bans for cheating classification; and (4) support for classifiers who suspect that cheating has occurred. A discussion followed on optimising the execution of each action - with references to the International Paralympic Committee's revised Classification Code becoming operational - and concluded that these actions should be implemented systematically, not in isolation.

Sport and Exercise Psychologists are increasingly called upon to support athlete mental health. This study explores sport psychologists' perceptions of their role in relation to athlete mental health and illness and their experiences of offering mental health support. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 sport psychologists, gathering more than 19 hours of data. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. We constructed three themes: 1) A lack of consensus on remit and role 2) Organization-practitioner misaligned expectations and 3) The emotional toll of supporting athlete mental health. Some practitioners considered their role to be exclusively performance enhancement, whereas others placed mental health at the center of their practice. Challenges arose when practitioners and sporting organizations held conflicting perceptions of the sport psychologist role in relation to athlete mental health. Practitioners shared the emotional toll of responding to athlete mental health concerns sensitively, appropriately, and swiftly. Education and training for aspiring Sport and Exercise Psychologists should be reviewed to reflect the increasing role that practitioners are expected to play in supporting athlete mental health. We discuss strategies to reduce potential misalignment between sporting organizations' and practitioners' expectations of the sport psychologist role in relation to mental health. Sport psychologists are encouraged to engage with ongoing supervision and self-care strategies to manage the emotional toll of their practice.

This study responded to a recommendation in the independent Duty of Care Report that called for standardised data to be collected and analysed regarding safeguarding cases in sport. A standardised case data tool was developed and piloted before being adopted by National Governing Bodies across England and Wales. An analysis of the first 4 years of data shows that a total of 3129 cases were managed. Overall, 54% of cases concerned behaviour outside of the context of sport. This demonstrates that sport plays an important role in the broader child protection system. In the remaining 46% of cases, the safeguarding concern was related to behaviour in the context of sport. The most commonly reported forms of concern in sport were physical abuse (20%), contact sexual abuse (20%), non-contact sexual abuse (17%) and emotional abuse (17%). The threshold for cases to be included in the analysis was that the case was judged to be sufficiently serious to involve referral to, or consultation with, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), Children's Services or the Police. There are clearly many cases that did not meet this threshold or were never reported, and hence, these data provide an indication of the safeguarding issues related to sport. The need to expand the tool to collect lower level concerns as well as to include safeguarding concerns regarding adults is advocated.

The process of athlete selection and deselection in sport involves not only athletes but also coaches, managers, performance directors, talent pathway coordinators and the wider organisation. Athlete selection and deselection can be viewed as the opposite sides of the same coin in that the process may be the same for all athletes but the outcome is very different. The outcome of this process can evoke extremely powerful emotions ranging from elevation to devastation. While selection and deselection are part of competitive sport regardless of type, level, gender or age, research is scarce. Employing the Delphi method, a total of 20 participants comprised the expert panel (coaches, athletes and other key personnel in high performance) from various sports, and ages ranged from 21 to 59 years old. Following three rounds, 60 items reached the pre-determined consensus level of 75%. The 60 items were then further content analysed and grouped with respect to the three key stakeholders: athlete (14), coach (21) and organisation (25). Within each of these categories, subcategories emerged: personal, interpersonal, procedural, educational, supportive, communicative and reviewing behaviours and actions that athletes, coaches and organisations can take to ease the navigation, apply consistency and establish a common ground during this challenging situation.

This study investigates how bullying and banter are conceptualised and rationalised by those in male adolescent community football. The authors employ a social constructivist, interpretative phenomenological analysis approach using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. These methods explore the meanings behind the perceptions and experiences of male players (N = 8, M age = 15.4) and coaches (N = 4, M age = 39). Evidence demonstrated that intent was not synonymous with bullying and that bullying and banter behaviours are highly ambiguous depending on the shared understanding of learned barriers despite participants concurring with most aspects of the definitions. Moreover, banter and bullying behaviours in community football have been experienced by participants, with acts being rationalised through moral disengagement and hypermasculinity. The research indicates that although bullying and banter are conceptualised similarly to popular definitions, concrete definitions may be limited due to the fluid nature of bullying and banter and the influence of shared social understandings. Additionally, the findings gathered show bullying and banter being experienced and rationalised in male youth community sport through moral disengagement and masculinity. The implications of these findings for safeguarding players and coaches in community football are discussed.

Reporting systems constitute an essential part of today's safe sport initiatives across the world. Informed by literature on reporting wrongdoings in organisational contexts and a political sociology approach to policy instrumentation, this article examines how abuse reporting systems are utilised in youth high-performance sport environments. Drawing from 51 interviews with both user and provider groups of South Korea's reporting facilities, the results offer three main uses of the country's safe sport reporting mechanisms: (1) 'good use' that relies on their communicative capacity to signal changing organisational culture; (2) 'non-use' that derives not only from the fear of reprisals, but from more subtle relational and situational concerns, such as teams' dissolution; and (3) 'misuse' of the systems as a tool to advance individual agendas as opposed to protecting victims. The findings of this study not only provide evidence for both positive and perverse effects of safe sport reporting facilities per se, but also illuminate the importance of social and institutional conditions that can both enable and constrain this newly implemented policy measure for athlete safeguarding.

Performance directors lead high-performance programmes within elite sport and where they opt to invest resources has implications for athletes. This study explores performance directors' perspectives on mental health and illness and their experiences of managing these within elite sport. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 performance directors, resulting in 18 h of data. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. We constructed three themes: 1) making sense of mental health: legitimacy vs. scepticism; 2) mental health as athlete responsibility; and 3) simplifying and sanitising mental health. Performance directors used physical health analogies to make sense of mental health, sometimes describing unrealistic expectations regarding mental health management. They also positioned athletes as responsible for finding solutions to their mental health concerns, at times overlooking the impact of the elite sport environment. Some performance directors shared over-simplified perceptions of mental health, often focusing on 'the positive' and neglecting to talk about the more challenging aspects of mental health and illness. Educating performance directors, as well as others in leadership positions, on the complexities of mental health and illness is recommended. This should include how mental illness differs from physical illness and injury, how to respond when athletes disclose mental health concerns, and how mental illness recovery is often nonlinear and subjectively defined.

PurposeDisadvantaged youth are confronted with a disproportionate number of risk factors and stressors that can predict youth delinquency and negative behaviours as an adult. Life skills developed through physical activity and sport programmes (PAS) have been identified as a way to provide protective factors for those at risk of, or involved in, youth delinquency.MethodA systematic search of nine electronic databases was conducted to collate and evidence the impact of life skills developed through sport and physical activity-based programmes targeting youth at risk of or involved in youth delinquency.ResultsThe search identified 15 studies across three different intervention levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary), reporting the effects of life skills development on youth at risk of, or involved in youth delinquency. The current evidence base for understanding the development of life skills through PAS programmes is positive but sparse.ConclusionRecommendations have been made for future research and include understanding the impact on personal and social identity, exploring the use of gender specific strategies and investigating the effectiveness of delivery staff.

Many (inter)national governments and sports organisations are implementing standardised Safe Sport policies and guidelines. However, the Western-born, rights-based norm that underlies Safe Sport can collide with pre-existing geo-sociocultural norms of local contexts. Drawing from a case study of South Korea's elite sport pathway where tightened regulations on abuse challenge the long-lasting relational hierarchy based on Confucianism, this paper examines how athletes and coaches manoeuvre within the fast-changing social order shaped by the new safeguarding policies and practices. Analysing data from semi-structured interviews with 48 participants around two Elite Sports Schools, the paper shows that the rights-based norm integral to Safe Sport is sifted through the Confucian hierarchy, generating two main shifts respectively in coaches’ roles (from caring disciplinarians to professional service providers) and senior athletes’ (from potential abusers to benevolent superiors). That is, individual actors re-script their relational template by negotiating between the familiar and new relational ethics. From this, the paper suggests that Safe Sport is not a straightforward process of modernising less advanced practices up to a certain standard; it requires understanding how individuals make sense of the process in their own socio-cultural contexts.

Despite publicised cases of abuse impacting those above the age of 18, little research attention has been paid to the safeguarding of adults. The present study is informed by the recommendations of the Duty of Care in Sport Review, aiming to inform the development of a case data collection tool. Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with 11 key stakeholders. Inductive thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed several challenges to collecting adult safeguarding case data in sport which were categorised into three domains: conceptualising cases, managing cases, and recording cases. Developing an effective case management process for adults will require a broader, and shared, understanding of the conceptualisation of adult safeguarding cases, including that vulnerability is not solely determined by personal characteristics, but is affected by the behaviour of perpetrators and fluctuates as circumstances change. Top-down support is necessary to ensure greater consistency in the reporting of valuable adult case data. With clear expectations, regarding what an adult safeguarding case is, what data should be collected, how it should be collected and why, as well as adequate resources, sports of all levels will be in a better position to protect adults from abuse or harm. A clearer roadmap for the management of adult safeguarding concerns in sport is offered.

Women coaches have remained underrepresented within sports coaching at all levels. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to describe the factors surrounding the development, progression, and retention of women coaches within the United Kingdom. The study involved semistructured interviews with 15 women coaches who were coaching female athletes in team sports. Content analysis of the qualitative data identified barriers and enablers at individual, interpersonal, organisational, and sociocultural levels. Results indicated that women coaches face several barriers because of their gender, which their men counterparts do not often encounter. Practically, individuals and organisations can both take action to reduce damaging stereotypical ideologies that produce challenging predicaments for women within the coaching landscape.

There is considerable attention devoted to athlete mental health in high-performance sport. The International Society of Sport Psychology seeks to extend this discourse by expanding the discussion through a lens of occupational health and safety (OHS).1 Drawing upon knowledge from OHS, the authors have considered existing mental health challenges as well as proactive and reactive strategies conducive of athlete safety. This position stand is structured into four sections. The authors introduce OHS and its relevance to high-performance sport in the first section. The second section focuses on athlete mental health and the need for an OHS approach within sport organizations. The third section is focused particularly on athlete safety in relation to high-performance youth athletes. The fourth section is a broader ideological discussion of how OHS might vary in approach based on national sport systems and cultural orientation.

The purpose of this study was to explore through semistructured interviews (a) the experiences of women coaches in relation to the stereotypical biases they may encounter in their workplace and (b) the strategies women coaches and sport organizations have, or can potentially put in place, to raise awareness and address these stereotypical biases. Content analysis of the obtained qualitative data using a rudimentary framework based upon the two sections of the interview schedule (i.e., dilemmas and strategies) guided categorization of the data. Findings indicated that women coaches experienced three broad types of stereotypical dilemmas: (a) extreme perceptions (e.g., too soft or too tough); (b) the high competence threshold (e.g., higher standards with lower rewards); and (c) competent but disliked (e.g., competent or likeable but rarely both). In addition, the findings indicated that tackling these stereotypical dilemmas effectively required a two-dimensional approach: individual and organizational. Within this paper, the authors discuss the ways women coaches both experience and confront a range of stereotypical dilemmas while moving into and through the coaching system. Such dilemmas inevitably disadvantaged women coaches by either slowing down or holding back their progress compared with their men coach counterparts. Practical solutions are also discussed.