“On an Island Alone”: The Mental Health and Well-Being of Swimming Coaches in the United Kingdom
Ella McLoughlin et al.
What the paper says
This project examined the mental health and well-being of swimming coaches in the United Kingdom. We explored the impact of workplace stressors and the satisfaction or thwarting of coaches’ basic psychological needs on mental ill-health, well-being, and burnout. Using a mixed-method design, 146 coaches across competitive levels completed an online questionnaire assessing symptoms of mental ill-health, well-being, burnout, stressors, and basic psychological needs and open-ended questions about their coaching experiences. Workload and (a lack of) work–life balance, feeling isolated, undermined, perceiving a lack of support, and the satisfaction or thwarting of basic psychological needs were key drivers for coaches’ symptoms of mental ill-health, well-being, and burnout. Coaches had limited awareness of support services. Findings highlight the need for multilevel interventions: at an individual level, improved mental health education, coping resources, and access to services; and at an organizational level, strategies to ensure manageable workloads and identify and support coaches at risk.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.