Psychological stress and psychological well-being among sports coaches: a meta-synthesis of the qualitative research evidence

Figures & data

Figure 1. PRISMA flow diagram.

Table 1. Summary of papers in the final sample.

Author(s)	Study Title	Aim(s)	Method(s)	Coaches	Coaching level	Country	Sport(s)	Key findings
*Chroni et al. (2013)	What stresses coaches in competition and training? An exploratory inquiry	To identify coaches’ stressors in the distinct settings of competition and training	Data collection: Open-ended questionnaire Analysis: Content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	Mixed (5 women, 22 men) 29–61 years old 4–35 years coaching experience	Mixed (youth sport level, national, and elite international level)	Greece	Mixed (basketball, soccer, volleyball, athletics, alpine ski, rhythmic gymnastics, wrestling, crew)	Four higher-order categories of coaches’ stressors in training and competition: athlete performance-related, coach performance-related, organizational-environment, organizational-leadership, and competition-related
*Didymus (2017)	Olympic and international level sports coaches’ experiences of stressors, appraisals, and coping	To use the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of stress and emotions as a lens to explore psychological stress with Olympic and international level sports coaches	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Latent thematic analysis Theoretical underpinning: Lazarus (1991) cognitive-motivational-relational theory of stress and emotions Philosophical underpinning: Constructivist epistemology with traces of post-positivism and a relativist view of reality	Mixed (6 women, 9 men) 36.92 average age 13.75 average coaching experience	Olympic and international level	United Kingdom	Mixed (athletics, equestrian, squash, tennis, triathlon, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and water polo)	Ten overarching stressor themes that were underpinned by seven situational properties, four types of appraisals, and seven families of coping were reported by coaches
*Durand-Bush et al. (2012)	Women coaches’ experiences of stress and self-regulation: A multiple case study	To explore women coaches’ experiences of stress and self-regulation. Also, to explore the coaches’ perceptions of the impact of stress and self-regulation on their well-being, burnout, and coaching effectiveness	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Thematic analysis Theoretical underpinning: Smith and Heshusius’s (1986) cognitive-affective model of athletic burnout and Zimmerman’s (2000) social-cognitive model of self-regulated learning Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	8 women 26–55 years old 5–25 years coaching experience	Development and high performance	Canada	Mixed (hockey, synchronized skating, paddling, rowing, alpine skiing, curling, hockey, and ringette)	Coaches faced various internal and external demands in their coaching and personal lives that led them to experience stress when the demands outweighed their internal and external resources. Several types of self-regulation strategies were used to meet and manage their daily demands and expectations and to cope with stressful situations
*Frey (2007)	College coaches’ experiences with stress – ‘problem solvers’ have problems, too	To better understand coaches’ experiences with stress, the perceived effects of stress on their coaching performance, and their coping strategies	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Thematic analysis Theoretical underpinning: Smith’s (1986) cognitive-affective model of athletic burnout and Zimmerman’s (2000) social-cognitive model of self-regulated learning Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	Mixed (4 women, 6 men) 36–55 years old 14–30 years coaching experience	NCAA Division 1 head coaches	United States of America	Mixed (baseball, basketball, diving, softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball)	Five major themes that characterized the coaches’ experiences: contextual/conditional factors, sources of stress, responses and effects of stress, managing stress, and sources of enjoyment
*Knights and Ruddock-Hudson (2016)	Experiences of occupational stress and social support in Australian Football League senior coaches	To examine the experiences of occupational stress and social support of Australian Football League senior coaches	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Thematic analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified:	12 (unspecified gender) 37–58 years old 1–12 years coaching experience	National	Australia	Australian Football League	Five overarching themes emerged which represented the coaches’ experiences: pressurized workplace environments, development and improvement of others and self, accountabilities and responsibilities to others, advice, support and comfort from others, and stress and adversity – the ramifications
*Levy et al. (2009)	Organisational stressors, coping, and coping effectiveness: A longitudinal study with an elite coach	To examine organizational stressors, coping, and perceptions of coping effectiveness with an elite coach	Data collection: 28-day daily diary Analysis: Inductive and deductive content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	1 male 40 years old 6 years coaching experience	Elite head coach	United Kingdom	Unspecified	Administration, overload, competition environment, the athletes, and team atmosphere were the salient organizational stressors. Coping strategies used to alleviate such stressors were communication, preparation, planning, social support, and self-talk
*Olusoga et al. (2009)	Stress in elite sports coaching: Identifying stressors	To gain an in-depth account of the stressors encountered by elite coaches in the United Kingdom	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Inductive content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	Mixed (6 women, 6 men) 36–64 years old 6–22 years coaching experience	World class level	United Kingdom	Mixed (diving, sailing, swimming, bowls, equestrian, field hockey, lacrosse, and table tennis)	Ten higher-order stressors themes: e.g. conflict, pressure and expectation, athlete concerns, competition preparation, isolation. Conflict within the organization emerged as a key theme, indicating that communication skills might be important in helping coaches function effectively as part of a wider organizational team
*Olusoga et al. (2010)	Stress and coping: A study of world class coaches	To explore coaches’ responses to stress, the perceived effects of stress, and the coping strategies employed	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Transactional stress theory Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	Mixed (6 women, 6 men) 36–64 years old 6–22 years coaching experience	World class level	United Kingdom	Mixed (diving, sailing, swimming, bowls, equestrian, field hockey, lacrosse, and table tennis)	Negative responses to stress could be projected onto their athletes. Structuring and planning was reported as a coping strategy, but coaches described a limited use of psychological skills and tended to avoid stressors that provoked strain responses in efforts to manage stress
*Olusoga et al. (2012)	Coaching under pressure: A study of Olympic coaches	To explore elite coaches’ perceptions of the factors that enable them to coach in a stressful Olympic coaching environment	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Inductive content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	8 men 33–53 years old 13.1 years average coaching experience	Olympic-standard athletes	United Kingdom	Unspecified	psychological attributes (e.g. emotional control), preparation (e.g. strategic approach), and coping at the event (e.g. team support) were factors that coaches perceived as important for successful Olympic coaching
*Potts et al. (2019)	Exploring stressors and coping among volunteer, part-time, and full-time sports coaches	To explore volunteer, part-time, and full-time coaches’ stressors and coping strategies	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Abductive thematic analysis Theoretical underpinning: Lazarus’ (1991) cognitive-motivational-relational theory of stress and emotions Philosophical underpinning: Interpretive paradigm and blended constructionist and critical realist perspective	Mixed (6 women, 13 men) 21–56 years old 2–28 years coaching experience	Mixed (Olympic and international, university level, youth)	United Kingdom	Mixed (American football, athletics, badminton, cricket, disability tennis, football, hockey, netball, squash, tennis, and triathlon)	Three stressor themes (coach-related, athlete-related, organizational) and seven coping themes (problem-solving, information seeking, escape, negotiation, self-reliance, dyadic coping, and support seeking) were constructed from the results.
*Thelwell et al. (2010)	Coping with stressors in elite sport: A coach perspective	To supplement previous work that identified the stressors experienced by coaches and examine the coping strategies that elite-level coaches employ to overcome stressors	Data collection: Semi-structured interviews Analysis: Hierarchical content analysis Theoretical underpinning: Unspecified Philosophical underpinning: Unspecified	3 men 34–38 years old 4–11 years coaching experience	Elite level	United Kingdom	Mixed (cricket, rugby union, soccer)	Stressors included both performance and organizational types, and the associated coping attempts included: problem-, emotion-, avoidance-, appraisal-, and approach-focused dimensions

Table 2. Key definitions and studies in the meta-synthesis.

Theme	Sub-theme	Definition	Papers
Stressors Any environmental demands that are encountered by an individual and require that individual to readjust his or her behaviour patterns (Fletcher, Hanton, & Mellalieu, 2006)	Athlete-related	Stressors that related to behaviours displayed by athletes with whom the coaches	CH13, DI17, FR07, LE09, KN16, OL09, OL12, PO18, TH10
	Coach-related	Stressors that related to the individual’s role as a coach	CH13 DI17, DU12, FR07, LE09, KN16, OL09, PO18, TH10
	Communication	Any exchange of information between a coach and another individual within the environment	DI17, LE09, OL12
	Competition	Any occurrences which related to an event, fixture, or competition where the emphasis was on winning	DI17, DU12, FR07, LE09, KN16, OL09, OL12, PO18, TH10
	Expectations	A belief that something will happen, which stems from a variety of sources such as other coaches, athletes, media, spectators, sponsors, National Governing Bodies, and the coaches themselves	CH13, DI17, DU12, FR07, OL09, PO18
	Organizational	Directly related to the sport organization in which the coach operated	CH13, DI17, DU12, FR07, KN16, LE09, OL09, PO18, TH10
	Work-life balance	The division of coaches’ time and focus between being a coach and home-life	DI17, DU12, FR07, KN16
Primary appraisals Concerned with the motivational relevance of what is happening and whether the stressor is pertinent to an individual’s PWB (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987)	Challenge	An appraisal where the coach perceived sufficient resources to meet the demands of the stressor, viewed the stressor as an opportunity to prove him or herself, or anticipated potential mastery or personal growth from the experience	DI17, DU12, OL12
	Threat	An appraisal where the coach perceives they have insufficient resources to meet the demands of the stressor and, therefore, that threat to their goals was apparent	CH13, DI17, TH10
	Benefit	An appraisal where any experiences are perceived to have provided some form of benefit to the coach or attain a goal	DI17
	Harm/loss	An appraisal where the coach perceives that damage has already occurred to the coach themselves or inhibited his or her goals	DI17, TH10
Coping Cognitive and behavioural efforts an individual draws upon to help them manage or reduce the demands of a stressor they are experiencing (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)	Escape	An individual’s efforts to physically or cognitively evade the stressor	DI17, DU12, LE09, OL10, PO18, TH10
	Isolation	An individual withdrawing themselves or others from the coaching environment	FR07, DI17, KN16
	Negotiation	An individual’s efforts that aimed to find new options or alternative strategies	DI17, DU12, FR07, LE09 OL09, OL10, OL12, PO18, TH10
	Information seeking	An individual’s efforts to find out more about the stressor being experiences and learning about strategies for intervention	DI17, DU12, FR07, OL10, OL12, PO18
	Problem-solving	An individual changing actions or behaviours to be more effective, making plans, or implementing organizational strategies	DI17, DU12, FR07, LE09, KN16, OL10, OL12, PO18, TH10
	Delegation	An individual assigning the responsibility or authority of specific activities to other individuals	DI17, DU12, OL09, OL10
	Self-reliance	An individual’s efforts to regulate their emotions or behaviours or express emotions	DI17, DU12, FR07, LE09, OL10, OL12, PO18, TH10
	Support seeking	An individual drawing on available social resources to cope with stressors	DI17, DU12, FR07, KN16, LE09, OL09, OL10, OL12, PO18, TH10
Emotions Occur whenever a change arises in the likelihood of achieving a certain goal (McCarthy, Allen, & Jones, 2013)	Positively valenced	Experience of pleasant emotions which can broaden attention to improve emotional well-being	FR07
	Negatively valenced	Experience of negative emotions which can narrow attention and decrease emotional well-being	DU12, FR07, OL10, PO18, TH10
PWB A multidimensional structure which includes autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, relationships with others, and self-acceptance (Ryff & Keyes, 1995)	Autonomy	An individual’s perceptions of control and the independence and regulation of his or her thoughts or behaviours	DI17
	Environmental mastery	An individual’s ability to choose or create environments which are suited to them, control an array of complex external activities, and making effective use of surrounding opportunities	DI17, DU12, KN16
	Personal growth	An individual’s emphasis on continual growth and development, whilst remaining open to confronting new experiences and challenges	DI17, KN16; OL12
	Relationships with others	An individual having strong feelings of empathy and affection towards other individuals and an ability to develop deep friendships and warm to and care for others	KN16, OL10, PO18
	Self-acceptance	An individual holding positive attitude towards the self, understanding and accepting multiple aspects of the self that are both positive and negative, and feeling positive about his or her past life	DU12

Note: CH13 = *Chroni et al. (2013); DI17 = *Didymus (2017); DU12 = *Durand-Bush et al. (2012); FR07 = *Frey (2007); KN16 = *Knights and Ruddock-Hudson (2016); LE09 = *Levy et al. (2009); OL09 = *Olusoga et al. (2009); OL10 = *Olusoga et al. (2010); OL12 = *Olusoga et al. (2012); PO18 = *Potts et al. (2019); TH10 = *Thelwell et al. (2010).

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