Exploring Mental Health and Illness in the UK Sports Coaching Workforce

Abstract

There is growing international concern about the mental health of those who work in sport, including coaches. However, we currently know little about the prevalence of mental illness and the experience of mental health among coaches, and their perceptions and use of workplace mental health support services. Little is also known about coaches’ disclosure of mental illness to, and seeking help from, work colleagues. We explore these issues using data from 202 coaches who responded to the first United Kingdom survey of mental health in the sport and physical activity workforce. In total, 55% of coaches reported having ever experienced a mental illness, and 44% currently did, with coaches in grassroots/community settings being most likely to experience mental illness. Depression and anxiety were the most commonly reported conditions and many coaches preferred to access mental health support outside of the organisation for whom they worked or volunteered, with decisions to seek help from others in the workplace being shaped by complex organisational and personal considerations. The findings suggest there is an important public health challenge which needs to be met among coaches, so that we can better address a question of fundamental importance: ‘who is looking after the people looking after the people’?

The role of mental health protection and promotion among flourishing Canadian university sport coaches.

“…In summary, flourishing (Keyes, 2002) is a useful conceptualization of MH that can help advance our understanding of MH among sport coaches (Sherwin, 2017). This is necessary in order to address the gap in both organizational policies and programs (e.g., Smith et al, 2020), as well as in practitioner knowledge (e.g., Kelly et al, 2018). MH research among coaches has largely focused on their role in supporting athlete MH (e.g., Bissett et al, 2020), and research in the area among coaches has largely been quantitatively driven (Norris et al, 2017).…”

“…Coaches may face a range of demands and stressors that can negatively impact their MH (e.g., Norris et al, 2017). Scholars have argued there is insufficient evidence to inform the provision of MH support for coaches (e.g., Sherwin, 2017), and there are gaps in organizational policies and programs to support coaches’ MH (e.g., Smith et al, 2020). Furthermore, on a practical level, some sport psychology practitioners may feel ill-equipped to provide adequate MH support to coaches due to the lack of existing evidence and supports (Kelly et al, 2018).…”

Mental Health Literacy of Australian Youth Sport Coaches

“…There is current focus on the role a coach's mental health literacy has on an athlete's mental health (Norris et al, 2017 ). Several studies measured the prevalence of mental illness among coaches, with findings ranging from 15 to 55% of coaches having experience with mental illness (Kim et al, 2020 ; Smith et al, 2020 ). The identification of coaches having personal experience with mental illness is important because significant literature supports the utility of using lived experience to connect with others within the mental health space (White et al, 2020 ).…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Mental Health Symptoms and Well-Being Among Elite Sport Coaches and High-Performance Support Staff

“…A study by Smith and colleagues [ 12 ] highlighted relatively high mental health need among coaches, with 55% reporting that they had experienced mental illness. However, this sample comprised coaches from a range of professional backgrounds and performance levels (including n = 35 elite coaches) and most study findings were not reported separately for the elite coach group.…”