The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian national team athletes’ mental performance and mental health: The perspectives of mental performance consultants and mental health practitioners

Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic has led to significant disruptions in the lives of high-performance athletes, including the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the cancellation of many international and national competitions, and drastic changes in athletes’ daily training environment. The purpose of this research was to examine the interplay between the mental health and mental performance of Canadian national team athletes and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these variables from the perspective of mental performance consultants and mental health practitioners. Twelve individuals working in these roles with national team athletes participated in focus groups and interviews during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Findings from the inductive reflexive thematic analysis revealed three main themes: (a) factors impacting athlete mental health (i.e., social and environmental, psychological, and public health restrictions), (b) consequences of COVID-19 for athletes (low mood symptoms, anxiety and stress symptoms, maladaptive behaviors, time for life outside of sport, rest, and recovery), and (c) impact of the pandemic on practitioners (roles, preparation and resources, gaps, and well-being). Interestingly, athletes with prior good mental performance skills were perceived to be more equipped to cope with challenges related to the pandemic, which concurrently seemed to facilitate good mental health throughout the pandemic. Furthermore, even though the pandemic had several debilitative consequences on athletes’ mental health, it imposed a break from training and competition that allowed them to rest and enjoy their life outside of sport. Finally, participants discussed the need for more mental health resources and better access to practitioners supporting mental performance and mental health in the Canadian sport system.

How collaborative mental health care for competitive and high-performance athletes is implemented: A novel interdisciplinary case study

“…Lastly, Practitioner A shared that the fact that all three CCT practitioners were trained as MPCs led to deeper collaboration because, "there was a certain level of understanding and appreciation for the work an MPC could do, which opened up more opportunity, sharing, and trust. " This illustrates the tremendous potential for MPCs and mental health practitioners to not only co-exist but also work together to optimally support athletes within Canada's sport ecosystem-an observation equally made by Dithurbide et al (2022) and Durand-Bush and Van Slingerland, 2021b. However, it is important to note that regardless of the collaborative care model used, teamwork should be founded on sound principles ensuring that "applicable provincial/territorial privacy, security, and confidentiality regulations are respected" (Durand-Bush and Van Slingerland, 2021b, p: 25).…”

“…As the previous citation suggests, support and recovery in the provision of mental health care are important (Dithurbide et al, 2022) and the CCMHS collaborative model affords opportunities to practitioners that may not exist when they work in isolation.…”

“…Studies show that there are several barriers discouraging athletes to seek mental health care (Lopez and Levy, 2013;Delenardo and Lennox-Terrion, 2014). In this case, the MPC was instrumental in convincing the athlete to get clinical support through the CCMHS⎯ an important role that is also addressed in the Mental Health Strategy for High Performance Sport in Canada (Durand-Bush and Van Slingerland, 2021b) and in Dithurbide et al (2022) study of Canadian national team athletes' mental health and mental performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Similarly, practitioners' physical distance from one another was perceived to limit the full range of advantages of collaborations that would be possible if they worked together in person: "I can imagine if practitioners happened to be working physically under one roof together, there would be additional opportunities to build our professional relationships with each other and maybe even further collaborate on cases such as our work with the client" (Practitioner B). This demonstrates that although significant strides have been made to offer high-quality virtual mental health care (Langarizadeh et al, 2017), particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Dithurbide et al, 2022), in-person interactions remain important and necessary in times of distress (e.g., recurring suicidality; Madigan et al, 2020;National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, n.d.). Future research should examine the necessity and impact of using different modalities to collaborate and provide services to athletes who are often travelling and may only be able to communicate through an online platform.…”

Depression Related to COVID-19, Coping, and Hopelessness in Sports Students

“…While the negative impact is evident, there are also reports suggesting that some athletes have successfully used this period for recovery and mental health improvements, facilitated by support from mental performance consultants and access to psychosocial services [ 85 ]. This highlights the heterogeneity of experiences and the potential for resilience-building strategies that can mitigate the adverse effects of such global disruptions.…”