Promoting a Healthy Post-Collegiate Lifestyle: An Evaluation of the Moving On! Transition Program for Student-Athletes

Abstract

Former student-athletes may face challenges in maintaining physical activity and engaging in healthy eating after transitioning out of collegiate athletics. Maladaptive adjustments following athletic transitions can result in detrimental outcomes for former student-athletes, ranging from physical health concerns to negative psychosocial consequences. In contrast, positive transitions can promote optimal health and wellbeing. The Moving On! program was developed in recognition of the unique challenges faced by student-athletes and the importance of making healthy transitions out of college sports. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Moving On! program’s influence on several relevant theoretical constructs that influence health behaviors, including student-athletes’ self-perceptions and self-determined motivation for maintaining physical activity and healthy eating, along with their self-efficacy and intentions for engaging in these health-related behaviors after college. NCAA student-athletes in their final year of competition were recruited from two institutions. Participants (N = 20) completed the Moving On! program along with pre- and post-test surveys and focus group interviews. Survey results revealed positive changes in nutrition-related self-perceptions (t(19) = 2.406; p = 0.026; g = 0.38) and self-efficacy for healthy eating behaviors (t(19) = 3.022; p = 0.007; g = 0.70). No significant changes were observed for exercise identity (p = 0.845), physical activity self-efficacy (p = 0.114), or autonomous motivation for exercise (p = 0.108) and health eating (p = 0.264). Focus group responses indicated that student-athletes’ experiences in the program fostered positive shifts in their self-perceptions, enhanced their self-determined motivation, and reinforced their intentions for engaging in physical activity and healthy eating in the future. Implications for future research and program implementation are discussed.

Development of the Life After Sports Transition (LAST) Online Course for Collegiate Student-Athletes: Pretest-Posttest Study

“…Moderate and significant increases in healthy eater identities were observed in participants, and there also was a large increase in their nutrition self-efficacy. However, self-determined motivation for healthy eating did not increase significantly, and no significant changes were observed for exercise identity, physical activity self-efficacy, or autonomous motivation for exercise (Reifsteck, Brooks, Newton, & Shriver, 2018).…”

“…Findings from this study add to the limited body of research on effective transition programs for student-athletes that translate existing theory and research into practical educational strategies (Reifsteck et al, 2018). In this respect, the LAST course prototype was found to provide college student-athletes with an additional educational opportunity that helped them, at the very least, initiate the process of preparing for life after sports by considering how to manage multiple aspects of their lives following sports.…”

“…Second, this pretest-posttest study used a within-subjects design with no follow-up measures administered after the posttest. This limitation has been reported in similar studies when working with similar college student-athlete samples (Reifsteck et al, 2018). The development and pre-testing of the LAST course represents one initial step toward creating and administering new training opportunities that promote student-athlete welfare.…”

“…Future research is needed to provide more evidence that life and health coaching can make a positive difference in college student-athletes' transition to life after athletics. However, only a handful of studies have investigated the impact of life and health coaching on self-regulated behavior and well-being in college student-athletes (Reifsteck et al, 2018;Shriver et al, 2019;Spence & Grant, 2007). Accordingly, it is important that educational programs leverage the qualities athletes acquire through the demands of their sports career.…”

“…Moreover, the design of the LAST course represents an improvement in instructional design over its predecessors. Through leveraging the CB-SFC (Grant, 2003) and the Integrated Developmental Coaching Framework (Cavanaugh et al, 2005), this pilot study adds to the minimal but growing literature related to life and health coaching for retiring student-athletes (Reifsteck et al, 2018;Shriver et al, 2019;Spence & Grant, 2007). The design of the LAST course directly addressed issues identified in the literature such as providing guidance in career exploration (Linnemeyer & Brown, 2010), enhancing self-efficacy to overcome perceived barriers (Huan Chou & Hung, 2016), and providing meaningful life coaching for transitioning beyond athletics (Poux & Fry, 2015;Stout, 2018).…”