SPORT AND MENTAL HEALTH
Athletes are not immune to experiencing mental health issues and they require support to flourish within both their sporting and wider lives. On this page, you can find a summary of our research on sport and mental health and linked resources. The research provides a novel insight into the complexity of athlete mental health.
Watch this space for further updates relating to this important work!
TRANSITIONS and challEnges
Transitioning into professional sport can pose both challenges and opportunities for athletes.
We have previously examined the process of transitioning into professional tennis. Within this work, athletes were interviewed to explore their personal experiences. You can read an academic paper about this work here. We have also written a blog post summarising mental health in professional tennis. You can read this here.
In addition, we were recently invited to take part in a BBC radio 4 documentary about this. Access this and read an associated blog post here.
HELP SEEKING
Research suggests that athletes may not engage with help-seeking for mental health concerns.
We have recently conducted research exploring what is currently known about athletes’ perspectives on help-seeking for mental health. Here, we used a novel method of patient participant involvement (PPI) and conducted a synthesis of available research evidence.
Read a blog post about a protocol that we published in relation to this work here.
RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS
The sporting environment can present different risk and protective factors for athletes' mental health and well-being.
What do we know about athlete’s experience of mental illness and well-being? How can we promote optimal mental health in athletes and reduce risk for experiencing difficulties?
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These are just some of the questions that our current research aims to answer.
A key area this research focuses on is emotion regulation—the ability to manage our emotions in the moment through the use of various strategies. Read our recent academic paper on this topic here.
