Mental Well-being and Help-seeking in High-Performance Sports Coaching

This thesis explores mental well-being and subsequent help-seeking of high-performance coaches, and concludes with specific coach well-being recommendations. Chapter 1 briefly introduced the context of high-performance sport and the overall structure of the research programme. Chapter 2 (the literature review) scrutinised the nature of high-performance sport as well as specific challenges coaches faced in their roles. It discussed existing disagreement around the concept of well-being and emphasised the importance of contextual, ecological understanding of coaches’ experiences. Chapter 3 discussed the overall methodological approach behind this research programme – pragmatism. It showed how pragmatism informed individual empirical studies and drove the research programme towards a practical objective. Chapter 4 (study 1) explored coaches’ views and experiences of well-being in the context of high-performance sport using constructivist grounded theory. Rather than employing the established grand theories of well-being (e.g., hedonia and eudaimonia), this study aimed to capture the process of well-being with appreciation of nuances that high-performance sport and coaching brings. This would allow for a more realistic view of well-being, grounded in coaches’ experience. Chapter 5 (study 2) advanced findings of the literature review and study 1 by investigating coaches’ views and experiences of help-seeking for well-being. Facing numerous, frequent stressors could leave coaches at risk of burnout and impaired well-being, hence study 2 used a mixed-method qualitative design to understand what, if anything, coaches might do to deal with possible signs of ill-being. It delved into barriers and facilitators of the help-seeking process and reiterated the relevance of contextual, ecological understanding. It also presented a bridge between theoretical explorations of coaches’ well-being (study 1) and more practical, tangible product of this project – study 3. Chapter 6 depicted this tangible product and showed the specific well-being recommendations that stemmed from this research programme. To embrace the ecological outlook, these recommendations targeted individual coaches, but also practitioners that do/should work with coaches, and organisations as whole. Chapter 7 (study 3) then aimed to assess these recommendations in terms of their relevance, clarity, and practicality to coaches’ well-being. A modified Delphi method was used to get ratings and feedback from a variety of key stakeholders. Chapter 8 consisted of a general discussion of the empirical findings of this research programme in relation to existing literature. Suggestions for future research/practice and personal reflections were provided to further align with pragmatism. This chapter brought a conclusion to this research programme considering both its strengths and areas for development.