Using video docuseries to explore male professional football head coaches’ well-being experiences throughout a season.

HIGHAM, Andrew, RUMBOLD, James, NEWMAN, James and STONE, Joseph (2023). Using video docuseries to explore male professional football head coaches’ well-being experiences throughout a season. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 69: 102488.

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Abstract

Football coaches have disclosed how their work environment is unpredictable and demanding, comprising a multitude of stressors which can impede well-being. Additionally, the masculine culture within football often promotes suppression of voice, causing internalisation of thoughts and isolation. Due to professional football head coaches being a seldom-heard group, little is known about how they experience well-being within their given context (i.e., ecological niche). The present study utilised football docuseries and a bioecological framework to explore how four male professional head coaches experienced well-being whilst working in one of the top European football leagues (Premier League, La Liga). Four docuseries were sampled and resulted in the analysis of 31 episodes (Mduration = 46.6 min, SD = 4.5 min). The study implemented an adapted interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to illuminate convergences and divergences in contextual accounts. These accounts resulted in five group experiential themes: ‘I belong to the game’; ‘he belongs to the game’; ‘you need the right people around you’; ‘it’s difficult to describe the manager without describing the person’; and ‘people are trying to stab you’. The findings indicate that football coaches may experience identity conflicts and become deeply absorbed in their work. This impacts not only their well-being but also their family’s, who they often turn to for social support. Consequently, by unveiling nuanced challenges to coaches’ well-being, organisations may be better informed to offer more aligned and bespoke well-being support systems.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	11 Medical and Health Sciences; 13 Education; 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences; Sport Sciences; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102488
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	11 Jul 2023 11:44
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2023 10:47
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/32116

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