A qualitative exploration of neophyte sport psychology practitioners self-care experiences and perceptions

Abstract

Scholars from the psychology and mental health professions have previously identified the value of self-care for enhancing practitioners personal and professional well-being, and fitness to practice. Despite these advances, self-care in sport psychology practitioners has received limited attention from scholars, with the few extant studies investigating senior practitioners’ self-care. As such, there currently exists little understanding of how neophyte practitioners understand, experience and enact self-care. In the current study, we aimed to better understand SPP self-care early in individuals’ professional development. Grounded in ontological relativism, we recruited 18 self-identified white neophyte SPPs residing in the United Kingdom (12 females and 6 males), aged between 24 and 52 years (M_age = 31.94, SD_age = 7.81), to take part in semi-structured interviews in which we explored their experiences of enacting self-care during their training. Five main themes were constructed following a reflexive thematic analysis of data. These themes were: (a) What self-care means to neophyte SPPs, (b) The cornerstones of self-care, (c) What facilitates neophyte’s self-care, (d) The self-care hurdles that neophytes face and (e) The self-care actions that neophytes implement. These findings contribute to the nascent body of literature exploring self-care within SPP populations and serve to better illuminate neophyte SPPs’ understanding of self-care and how they perceive their interactions with the profession to impact their ability to enact self-care. The current lack of emphasis on self-care in SPP training pathways and employment settings as well as key considerations for the development of greater self-care awareness within current and future neophyte cohorts is discussed.

 Lay summary: In this study we explored the self-care experiences of 18 neophyte Sport Psychology Practitioners (SPPs). Analysis of interview data identified the meaning of self-care to neophyte SPPs, the key mechanisms, such as self-awareness, that underpin self-care as well as the facilitating and challenging aspects related to engaging in self-care.

APPLIED IMPLICATIONS

• Neophyte sport psychology practitioners perceive engaging in self-care to be of benefit to a positive work-life balance and their holistic development.

• The development of mechanisms such as self-awareness and psychological flexibility in one’s self-care practices may be beneficial to promoting effective self-care for neophytes.

• Greater efforts from employing organizations, regulatory bodies and educational institutions are needed to better communicate the importance of self-care during training.

Scholars have highlighted how psychology practitioners have a professional responsibility to strive toward achieving high ethical standards, to reach their fullest potential and to avoid risks while serving their clients (Knapp et al., 2017). Yet, while striving to pursue such responsibilities, practitioners face various occupational demands and risks (Norcross & VandenBos, 2018). For instance, occupational risks associated with operating in the psychology professions include stress (Myers et al., 2012) and burnout (Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison, 2016) as well as emotional labor (Van Der Merwe, 2019), which encompasses practitioners experiences of suppressing or manufacturing emotions to portray a version of the “self” they deem to be most appropriate to the setting they are in. Moreover, the potential cumulative strain caused by these occupational risks may have debilitative effects for these practitioners through professional impairment or compromising their provision of ethical and competent services to clients (Barnett et al., 2007). With the aim of understanding how practitioners might avoid these negative outcomes, scholars have begun to explore practitioner self-care (Posluns & Gall, 2020).

Recently, scholars have argued that proactively engaging in self-care activities is a necessity for professionals, to maintain a standard of physical, social, emotional and psychological well-being throughout their career (Lawson, 2007; Rupert & Dorociak, 2019). Engaging in self-care has been demonstrated not only to protect from negative outcomes, but also to foster personal flourishing and the promotion of good service delivery outcomes (Rupert & Dorociak, 2019; Zahniser et al., 2017). Therefore, scholars have proposed self-care as an ethical imperative for psychology practitioners, with the use of self-assessment, reflection and self-care practices to ensure they remain fit to practice; promoting the delivery of ethical and competent service delivery (Barnett et al., 2007).

Sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) also have the ethical obligation to their clients and the profession to remain fit to practice by engaging in appropriate self-care, making it a critical aspect of their personal and professional journey (Quartiroli et al., 2019). Using Rønnestad and Skovholt (2013) counselor development framework, Tod (2007) noted parallels between the developmental processes experienced by SPPs and counseling practitioners. While this comparison afforded an insight into SPP professional development, scholars have also highlighted the uniqueness of the settings, conditions, and clientele experienced by SPPs in their careers (Stapleton et al., 2010). Thus, scholars have argued that SPPs experience different and unique developmental tasks and challenges to those experienced by other psychology professionals (McEwan et al., 2019).

Quartiroli, Etzel and colleagues (2019) provided the first exploration of self-care within the nuanced professional contexts of sport psychology. These scholars described how globally situated experienced and senior SPPs perceived self-care to be of value to their personal and professional functioning and regularly engaged in their own self-care practices. Further, in a subsequent study, (Quartiroli et al., 2021) reported that SPPs described self-care as being inextricably linked to the quality of their professional experience. Specifically, SPPs have described how engaging in self-care practices serves to enhance the quality of their professional experiences, preserving their ability to provide effective and ethical services to their clients, while also enjoying their professional career. More recently, a panel of multinational SPPs at different stages of their professional development offered a shared definition of self-care contextualized in the sport psychology profession, alongside the challenges generally faced by SPPs and a non-finite list of effective practices SPPs engaged in to foster their self-care (Quartiroli et al., 2021). The panelists highlighted the ethical responsibility of training and educational programmes to support SPPs in developing effective self-care practices that are rooted in individual values, which requires SPPs to engage in a personal exploration to identify and implement effective practices.

Neophyte SPPs represent an important population within the profession who must perform in their professional roles by articulating the knowledge, skills and abilities developed throughout their training that are requisite for service delivery, all whilst experiencing the demands of sport psychology practice for the first time (e.g., time management, developing a model of practice and adhering to ethical guidelines). Neophyte’s must navigate these challenges through the support of supervisors, peers, and personal reflection (McEwan et al., 2019; Poczwardowski, 2019). To advance our collective understanding of how SPPs can better perform in their professional roles across their career span, through the delivery of competent and ethical service delivery, scholars have also called for context specific explorations of how SPPs maintain their professional and personal wellbeing and fitness to (Quartiroli et al., 2021). As such, in the current study, we aimed to explore how SPPs understand and experience self-care in the context of the early stages of their professional development. Specifically, this study was guided by two research questions: (a) how do neophyte SPPs understand and conceptualize self-care? and, (b) how do neophyte SPPs experience self-care in the context of their professional journey?

Methodology

Philosophical assumptions

The current study was conducted from a position of ontological relativism thus holding the belief that no one single reality exists, rather, individual’s assign meaning to their subjective realities via social constructs (Sparkes & Smith, 2014). Further, the researchers were informed by epistemological constructionism, positioning them as interpreters of participants constructed realities, interacting with and becoming immersed in the SPP’s experiences of self-care through a combined reality between researcher and participant (Sparkes & Smith, 2014).

Sampling and participants

Eighteen neophyte SPPs aged between 24 and 52 years (M = 31.94 SD = 7.81), were recruited using purposeful and snowball sampling to participate in the present study. All participants self-identified as white British resided in the United Kingdom (UK) and were in the process of completing a pathway to becoming an accredited Sport and Exercise Psychologist in the UK. Pathways included the British Psychological Society Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology (n = 7; BPS QSEP), a Professional Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology (n = 6), a PhD in Sport Psychology and the BPS QSEP (n = 3) or a PhD in Sport Psychology (n = 2) only.

After receiving ethical approval from the institutional review board at the second author’s institution, SPPs’ recruitment was initiated through purposeful and snowball sampling (Robinson, 2014). In order to be considered for inclusion for the present study, it was required that participants were (a) to be in the process of completing an accredited pathway to becoming a SPP in the UK, or a PhD in sport psychology and, (b) to be receiving formal supervision from a qualified SPP.

Interview guide

To facilitate the interview process, a semi-structured interview guide was created subsequent to a review of contemporary literature surrounding the topics of self-care and practitioners’ well-being. Prior to its use the interview guide was piloted with a non-participant volunteer, the feedback from which was used to improve the interview guide in terms of its fluency and semantics to facilitate the flow of the conversation, as well as the clarity of the questions. Our aim with the interview guide was to assist the primary author in gaining insight into neophyte SPP’s conceptualisations of self-care and its role in their developmental journey. Questions in the guide related to participants conceptualisations of self-care (e.g., “What does self-care mean to you?”) and their own experience of self-care in their lives (e.g., “How do you experience self-care in your life?”). Prompts were used to explore the nuances of the participants responses with regard to their understanding, conceptualization and experience of self-care.

Data collection

Using a semi-structured approach, we conducted 18 interviews with participants through Skype (2014 Microsoft). The use of Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIPs) afforded the researchers with greater flexibility with regards to interview scheduling and reduced the need for travel to complete interviews (Quartiroli et al., 2017). [Author 1] conducted all 18 interviews, lasting between 34 min and 1 h and 4 min (M = 35 min, SD = 14 min). Using a single interviewer approach to the data collection allowed [first author] to develop an intimate understanding of the data set throughout the interview process (Bernard, 2006). Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with the exclusion of minor prompts or stutters.

Data analysis

A reflexive thematic analysis framework (Braun & Clarke, 2021) was used to determine meaningful patterns within the collected interview data. The analysis of data was conducted in line with an inductive approach in which predominantly semantic codes were utilized to generate data-driven themes. As identified by Braun and Clarke (2021), the analysis of data cannot be completed void of a researchers theoretical understanding and knowledge of a subject. Therefore, our knowledge and understanding of the extant self-care literature informed the analysis process and the development of latent codes also (Braun et al., 2016; Terry et al., 2017). Analysis began with a period of data immersion and familiarization in which the interview transcripts were read multiple times by [first author] alongside the original audio recordings, with initial impressions and features of the data being noted. This period served to re-immerse the primary author into the data prior to its coding (Braun et al., 2016). Next, features of the data that were salient to the studies purpose and research question were systematically labeled and identified as codes across each interview transcript. Codes were predominantly semantic (e.g., self-care has a positive impact on my well-being), providing an insight into the explicit meanings and experiences shared by participants (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Yet, several latent codes (e.g., lack of self-care focus in training pathways) were also created from interactions between the implicit meanings identified within the data by the first author and his theoretical perspectives and understanding of the extant self-care literature (Terry et al., 2017). Following the systematic coding of the data, a process of theme identification took place, in which higher-level and meaningful patterns located in the data were categorized into themes (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Subsequently, periods of theme review and revision conducted between all three authors, resulted in themes which presented meaningful yet distinct patterns within the data (Braun et al., 2016). Here, the relevance of each theme to the research purpose and research question were considered, with critical discussion and challenge between the authors serving to generate clarity and distinction between each theme and the narrative of the analysis. The reporting of themes formed the final part of the analysis process (Sparkes & Smith, 2014), requiring the use of expressive extracts from the data to create a compelling analytic tale.

Quality and rigour

A reflexive thematic analysis process cannot be conducted within a “theoretical vacuum” (Braun & Clarke, 2021, p. 10), and it is necessary to acknowledge that the researchers’ subjectivity plays an essential part in informing the analysis process (Terry et al., 2017). It is therefore important that researchers remain mindful of the possible influences that their presence may have upon participant sampling, the data collection process and the analysis of data.

Study rigor and quality were fostered, in the current study, through interactions between, [Author 1], the first author and, [Author 2] and [Author 3], who acted as “critical friends” (Smith & McGannon, 2018) and whose role was to provide opportunities for reflection and dialogue, offering novel interpretations of the data where appropriate (Smith & McGannon, 2018; Sparkes & Smith, 2014). To provide context, our team is comprised of three white male SPPs from two different countries, one trainee and two mid-career professionals. We collaborated and worked upon this study due to mutual research interests and the varying levels of seniority within the author group. I, [Author 1], am an early-career trainee researcher and SPP currently focusing on a body of work that explores the professional development and well-being of neophyte SPPs. As primary author of this study, I have been responsible for participant recruitment, data collection, data analysis and the writing of this manuscript. I, [Author 2], am a mid-career SPP with experience in both applied and scholarly work. My areas of scholarly interest focused on SPP’s professional development, training, practice, and wellbeing. I, [Author 3] am a mid-career SPP with extensive applied practice and scholarly experience. My research interest is rooted in professional development and practice. In addition to their role of critical friends throughout all phases of the study, [Author 2] and [Author 3] engaged in the refinement and finalization of the results and the write up of the manuscript.

The knowledge and experiences of [Author 2] and [Author 3] in relation to SPPs professional development and training was pivotal in both guiding and challenging [Author 1] throughout the analysis process. Assuming the role of a “critical friend”, [Author 2] afforded [Author 1] with a space in which to challenge his assumptions regarding the analysis process. For example, through reflection, [Author 1] identified how he was gravitating toward his pre-conceptualisations of self-care and its importance for neophyte SPPs as formed by his understanding of the extant literature in sport and general psychology, whilst creating the themes of the current study. Throughout the analysis process, critical discussions between [Author 2] and [Author 1] led to the recognition of such biases and an awareness of their potential influence upon the analysis of data. Across several reflective discussion, [Author 2] supported [Author 1] through discussion of data coding and theme formation to ensure that themes were grounded in the collected data. Additionally, [Author 3] used his knowledge of SPP professional development to engage in critical dialogue with [Author 1] and [Author 2] during the theme formation stage. From these discussions, the authors were able to generate greater clarity and distinction between the centrally organizing concepts and patterns upon which each theme was based. For example, such discussions resulted in the separation of distinct, but closely aligned themes in to smaller and more centrally organized sub-themes that served to better represent the experiences of the participants and thus helping to provide a more detailed and exploratory narrative to the finalized themes.

Results and discussion

Following the analysis of the collected data, five main themes were constructed which offer an insight into neophyte SPPs understanding, conceptualization, and experience of self-care. The five main themes are: (a) the meaning of self-care, (b) the cornerstones of self-care, (c) facilitating neophyte’s self-care, (d) self-care roadblocks, and (e) implementing self-care.

The meaning of self-care

Within this theme, we present self-care as a concept that has a different meaning and value to each individual, as participants offered their unique perspectives and experiences of understanding and enacting self-care. Across the psychology, mental health and sport psychology literature to date, many definitions and conceptualisations of self-care have been offered (Dorociak, Rupert, Bryant, et al., 2017; Quartiroli et al., 2019). Those offered by participants in the current study align with scholars’ commonly held beliefs that self-care is a complex and multi-dimensional construct (Dorociak et al., 2017). That is, while each participant’s perspective of what self-care meant to them was different, commonalities existed between participant’s conceptualisations of self-care also. Predominantly, participants emphasized the importance of self-care as a means to facilitate their overall well-being and to work toward personal stability and the management of varying areas of responsibility within their lives. For example, when asked what self-care meant to them, Jack stated: “I would say just looking after your own psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing”. While participants placed varying degrees of emphasis on the physical, mental and emotional benefits of self-care, there was a shared consensus about the importance of self-care for holistic wellbeing. Indeed, this observation is in line with the existing self-care literature in which it has been reported that self-care conceptualisations of other psychology professionals as being concerned with the promotion of overall well-being across the physical, mental and emotional facets of their lives (Quartiroli et al., 2019; Wise et al., 2012).

In addition to their personal lives, participants indicated that self-care formed an important part of maintaining their professional selves and overall professional satisfaction. Moreover, they described how an absence of self-care represented ethical professional issues, leading to noticeable decreases in their wellbeing, professional functioning and effectiveness as SPPs. Conversely, they reported that positive self-care led to increases in their abilities to receive and process information and practice in the present moment with their clients, this was illustrated by Jess who stated that:

Self-care is looking after yourself and making sure you can be the best version of yourself personally and professionally… on a plane, they say to fit your own mask before you fit others, they tell you to fit your own mask so that you can breathe and help others. I think that is an important lesson for sport psychologists, if you’re not breathing, if you’re not doing well yourself, if you’re not looking after yourself… you’re not going to be the best practitioner you can be.

These sentiments shared by Jess align with previous findings in the self-care literature that have observed engagement in self-care behaviors to be associated with increases in outcomes such as reduced stress and greater life satisfaction (Rupert & Dorociak, 2019; Wise et al., 2012). Indeed, a body of evidence exists to support psychology professionals’ use of self-care as a valuable tool to proactively mitigate the negative effects of the profession (e.g., burnout or psychological impairment), model healthy behavior to their clients, and minimize the potential for committing ethical violations in their work (Norcross & VandenBos, 2018; Porter, 1995). As such, several scholars to date have called for the proactive and purposeful use of self-care to promote greater wellbeing across both the professional and personal selves of psychology professionals (Barnett et al., 2007; Jiang et al., 2021). Moreover, scholars have observed self-care to be inextricably linked with SPPs professional quality of life, noting how senior SPPs perceived self-care to extend to both their personal and professional selves, with both ultimately being of benefit to their professional effectiveness and the meaning they were able to derive from their work (Quartiroli et al., 2021).

In considering the nature of self-care, these neophyte SPPs identified practicing self-care to be a skill, thus indicating that it may be developed or refined over time. This was further perpetuated when they described self-care as being a versatile and dynamic process which must remain flexible to an individual’s needs. Within the psychology literature, scholars have similarly observed that self-care practices and the practitioners who enact them must be flexible to best navigate the uncertain and changeable environments that exist within psychology professions (Posluns & Gall, 2020). Further, many interviewees had only recently begun engaging in or given greater attention to self-care practices, attributing this to their neophyte status and a lack of self-care representation in educational pathways. Participants often described that their self-care practices had been developed as a result of conscious and deliberate engagement on their behalf or through discussion with others and not as a result of applying knowledge they had gained through their training pathways, as indicated by Ben when they said “focusing on you is something that should be made a lot more clear cut by the BPS, it was only through [line manager], she always says only do it if you’ve got time or it is right for you”. These experiences seem to align with the concern that the current SPP development pathways may not sufficiently prepare neophyte SPPs to engage in self-care and maintain levels of personal and professional well-being that will allow them to remain fit to provide ethical and competent service delivery (Quartiroli et al., 2021).

The SPPs in the study also contemplated the evolution of the meaning they attributed to their self-care practices and in doing so revealed that they anticipate how they conceptualize, understand and enact self-care may change as they mature through their career, although they were unable to envisage how. This uncertainty was highlighted by Paul who said:

It will evolve over time [self-care conceptualisation], how it will evolve? I’m not too sure. I think that’s maybe something that, through experience, shapes what self-care I engage in, the level of self-care and how effective it is.

Despite these sentiments, it was common for participants to perceive that their self-care practices would become easier with age and experience and that their evolving life circumstances would inevitably shape their self-care needs and practices. Similar to their current perceptions of it, SPPs indicated that self-care would remain an important facet of their personal and professional lives over the course of their career. This was well represented by James who said, “I think the importance of it will stay the same, but I do feel that it will be probably a lot easier and probably be a lot less conscious” when discussing how they envisage their self-care might evolve. Early-career psychologists seem to encounter higher levels of professional demands in tandem with lower levels of professional resources in comparison to late-career psychology professionals who are more likely to have greater self-care and to engage in more effective self-care practices as they become more comfortable with the demands of the profession (Rupert & Dorociak, 2019).

To date, scholars have identified self-care to be a changeable concept that is heavily influenced by an individual’s circumstances and requirements (Godfrey et al., 2011). Indeed, studies exploring self-care perspectives of senior SPPs have reported the continual refinement of their self-care behaviors throughout the course of their career, in relation to contextual and motivational factors, aiming to meet their evolving personal needs (Quartiroli et al., 2019).

The cornerstones of self-care

Providing an insight into the motivations and mobilizing factors that participants described as being foundational to effective self-care, this theme is made up of two subthemes: (a) the reasons to engage in self-care, and, (b) the mechanisms that underpin effective self-care practices.

Reasons to engage in self-care

Whilst participant’s rationale and motivations for engaging in self-care were often different, patterns regarding such motivations remained identifiable. Primarily, neophyte SPPs engaged in self-care practices because it positioned them to better manage the important aspects of their lives, such as their formal training, engaging in applied work, maintaining personal relationships, financing their training and engaging in personal hobbies. Indeed, James indicated he uses self-care “more logistically – so I make sure I don’t overload myself with work and that has definitely helped from a mental position”. To date, scholars have highlighted the importance of self-care for enabling practitioners to tend to the various areas of responsibility in their life (e.g., personal relationships, family life, personal wellbeing and professional wellbeing), identifying that self-care may serve to foster a balance across these different aspects of a psychologist’s life and prevent certain areas, such as personal wellbeing, from being neglected (Posluns & Gall, 2020; Rupert et al., 2012). Counseling psychology scholars have also made clear distinctions between the benefits of daily balance, for day-to-day management of one’s responsibilities and life balance, which encompasses a macro view of balance between a psychologists personal and professional self that ensures psychologists foster wellbeing through managing their whole selves and not just their professional selves (Dorociak et al., 2017; Rupert & Dorociak, 2019).

Several participants engaged in regular self-care practices because of the benefits they perceived such practices to have upon their professional functioning and performance. Here, participants engaged in self-care as a performance aid, with the view of their professional roles as that of a performer. This view aligns with contemporary literature in sport and performance psychology, where scholars have suggested that the work of a SPP meets the requirements of a performance, in that specialized knowledge, skills and abilities are necessary in order to provide effective psychological support to clients (Aoyagi & Portenga, 2010; Poczwardowski, 2019). For other participants, self-care served as a tool to mitigate the detrimental effects of the profession on their wellbeing and personal lives. A view expressed by Ciara when they stated:

If I’ve looked after myself, my self-care is good. And then I face a challenging situation in terms of my professional role I’ll only ever be better equipped to deal with that. Or the other way round if I deal with it poorly, good self-care is going to help me recover from that.

These SPPs perceived self-care as a means to function optimally in both the personal and professional aspects of their lives, here participants acknowledged that the holistic conceptualisations and meaning that they attached to self-care also served as a rationale for engaging in self-care, to achieve an increased overall wellbeing across numerous areas of their lives, as demonstrated by George who stated “self-care would mean ensuring I’m looking after myself so that I can perform in the various jobs I have in my life, that’s at work but also at home… ensuring that my mental health and wellbeing isn’t being compromised”. These findings are consistent with the extant literature regarding the experiences of senior SPPs who described self-care as a means to facilitating balance within their own lives but also balance in their relationships with others (Quartiroli et al., 2019; Rupert & Dorociak, 2019). Further, the idea that caring for oneself can enhance functioning is consistent with the current literature (Barnett et al., 2007; Dattilio, 2015; Quartiroli et al., 2019). Such findings also serve to enhance our current understanding of how SPPs may engage in self-care at different times in their career, particularly from the perspectives of neophyte SPPs who represent a unique and under researched population in the context of SPP self-care. In relation to Rønnestad and Skovholt (2013) counselor development framework, the findings of the current study provide clearer insight of the self-care motivations for those SPPs currently in the advanced student and novice professional stages of their career. Indeed, while the use of self-care to function optimally as a practitioner and foster balance across one’s personal and professional selves has been identified in previous studies (Quartiroli et al., 2019), the contexts, with regards to developmental challenges, in which neophyte SPPs must apply self-care differ to those faced by senior or experienced SPPs and as such reinforce the need for further exploration of self-care in neophyte SPP populations.

Mechanisms that underpin effective self-care

In addition to the reasons that lead them to engage in self-care, neophytes also described the key mechanisms and underpinning principles that they perceived to mobilize their self-care practices. Identified by participants to be the most important mechanism underpinning effective self-care was self-awareness, as illustrated by Natasha who said “I think self-awareness is at the crux of this. So, without self-awareness, I don’t think you can maximise self-care” when asked for a key takeaway message from the interview. Participants highlighted how they perceived self-awareness to allow them to better understand themselves, through introspection, to become aware of their self-care needs and to establish a subsequent self-care plan that aligned with these needs, which Claire described as needing to “make sure I’m constantly just checking in with myself and putting in place times that I can practice self-care… to allow myself that space to unwind”. For other participants, increases in self-awareness afforded them greater scrutiny of their pre-established practices, which allowed them to review the alignment of these practices with their evolving self-care needs. Jess highlighted the importance of self-awareness as a mechanism for self-care:

Most importantly is to have the self-awareness, understand yourself to know what works, what doesn’t work for you and having the confidence to then enact that. Whether that be saying no, or finding the time to switch off, or standing up to the things that aren’t necessarily working for you, I think that is very important.

Similar to the participants of this study, both clinical psychology trainees (Zahniser et al., 2017) as well as senior and experienced SPPs (Quartiroli et al., 2019), highlighted the importance of self-awareness to cultivate effective self-care practices that meet their professional and personal needs. Moreover, psychology professionals have described this awareness as a means to facilitate key personal and professional regulatory functions, such as decreasing perceived stress (Rupert & Dorociak, 2019) and reducing the effects of countertransference (Winstone & Gervis, 2006). Given the emotional performance and demands incumbent upon these professionals (Hings et al., 2018; Van Der Merwe, 2019), remaining aware of and checking in with oneself to inform self-care practices may be pivotal in regulating personal well-being and professional effectiveness.

The interviewed SPPs also expressed how their self-care was not facilitated by any one mechanism operating in isolation (e.g., self-awareness), rather, through a combination of several mechanisms (e.g., self-awareness, psychological flexibility and confidence in one’s self-care practices) that interconnected to mobilize their self-care actions and meet their self-care needs, which, for Liam was “proactively putting things in place that ensure balance. And that can require a load of different strategies that I use on a day-to-day basis to ensure I get that balance right”. The idea of a combination of varying mechanisms underpinning one’s engagement in self-care practices as described by the participating SPPs, appears to be in line with the previously suggested multidimensional conceptualization of self-care (Dorociak, Rupert, Bryant, et al., 2017; Quartiroli et al., 2019) and the described variety of potential strategies and approaches practitioners can implement (Quartiroli et al., 2021; Rupert & Dorociak, 2019). From the current study, neophytes highlighted the importance of mechanisms such as flexibility and confidence in one’s self-care practices, working together to help develop an understanding and acceptance that optimal levels of self-care may not always be achievable. For example, Afra, described how self-care may not always be viable whilst at competition with a team, highlighting how “as much as it is about doing day-to-day stuff, it’s almost about building up a buffer and knowing you’re planning for those times when you might not be able to be quite as effective in your self-care”. Such a buffer may allow neophyte SPPs to become more comfortable with the fact that their self-care practices may not always match their self-care needs, which may be an important skill for neophyte SPPs to develop, given the unique challenges that exist in applied settings (Tod et al., 2017), particularly for neophyte SPPs (Champ et al., 2021; Stambulova & Johnson, 2010).

Facilitating neophyte’s self-care

Extending beyond the intrinsic mechanisms that neophyte SPPs identified to facilitate self-care, this theme describes the role that supervisors and mentors, employers, and regulatory organizations play in the facilitating development and maintenance of neophyte SPP’s self-care.

Indeed, for several participants, the supervisory relationship formed an important piece in the development and maintenance of their self-care practices. For example, neophytes described how through encouragement to reflect upon and engage with literature and exercises that related to the development of their self-care, their supervisors played an important role in supporting their development of self-awareness and self-compassion in relation to their self-care. These participants described how this made self-care a more conscious aspect of their training, due their supervisor normalizing self-care discussions and placing emphasis on supervisees well-being as key aspect of their performance. This was highlighted by Natasha, who said:

They [supervisors] will reassure you that it is really important to engage in this stuff [self-care] and to look after yourself and having somebody who is superior to you saying… you need to pay attention to this, it’s a lot better than you just thinking I need to pay attention to it. So, it confirms that it’s not self-indulgent, it’s not a waste of time, it is really important

Further, supervisors were deemed as being important in the alleviation of stress and anxiety with regards to the applied challenges and issues faced by these neophytes, providing a space for them to seek advice and knowledge with regards to their professional issues and development. Such a space was reported as being valuable for neophytes to learn, through the guidance of a supervisor, how to manage and navigate the challenges of the profession whilst caring for oneself. This was identified by Ben who said “If I’m faced with a client’s problem, I’ve got [supervisor’s name] to go and talk to and say what would you recommend in this situation?”, as well as Emma who stated “There have been cases, where light bulbs are going off and having the option to run it past your supervisor and ask ‘is this the appropriate behaviour?’ is reassuring and I think also helps through the whole self-care aspect especially”. SPPs also spoke to the perceived positive effects of having a supervisor who tailored supervision to their needs and requirements throughout the accreditation process. Indeed, whilst nuances existed in relation to each participant’s supervisory relationship, it was generally agreed that effective supervision came as a result of a supervisor tailoring their approaches to the needs of their supervisees and in turn, supervisees being explicit in their needs, including those related to self-care and personal wellbeing. An example of such an interaction came from Isabelle when she stated that “Early on in my PhD, my supervisor was coming back to me saying change this and that, so I said I need a well done every now and then. It sounds silly and embarrassing but it’s important, people forget that”.

SPPs gave consideration to the evolution of the supervisor-supervisee relationship with regards to their self-care. Specifically, they indicated how initially, they required more guidance and assistance from their supervisor in developing and maintaining effective self-care, but as they progressed, they became more autonomous in prioritizing self-care. For example, when describing her journey of developing self-care awareness and practices throughout supervision, Emma stated how “as time goes on, you’ll probably need less and less contact with your supervisor as you become more and more competent and confident within your [self-care] skills”.

The salience of the supervisor relationship for neophyte SPPs has been well established by scholars examining SPP development (Tod, 2007; Tod et al., 2009). Viewed through Rønnestad and Skovholt (2013) counselor development framework, the SPPs in the current study are at the beginning and advanced student phases of their professional development. It is not surprising then, that several participants perceived an evolution of the relationship between supervision and their self-care, reporting greater autonomy in their self-care practices and less dependence upon their supervisor for self-care guidance as they matured throughout their development. These experiences are in alignment with the progressions observed in other developmental areas (e.g., competence) by scholars concerned with SPP development and the supervisory relationship (Fogaca et al., 2019). Moreover, such findings offer support for the benefits of supervision for the overall development of neophyte SPPs and provides insight as to how neophyte SPPs self-care may evolve throughout this relationship and the supporting role that a supervisor may play in neophyte SPP self-care evolution.

Neophyte SPPs also discussed the role of employers and regulatory organizations within sport in supporting SPPs self-care, with several participants indicating an absence of emphasis placed on SPP self-care within the profession, as stated by Ben who said:

I see it all the time, journals coming out about the importance they’re placing on the mental health and well-being of not only the athlete, but of the practitioner, but it’s not something I feel like the [professional organization] are necessarily buying into as much.

Indeed, participants identified the need for employers and organizations to give attention to SPPs professional environments and the extent to which they can facilitate the self-care of SPPs at all stages of their career. Previous research supports the need for sport organizations to create environments facilitative of the overall well-being of their entire staff, creating a culture of well-being and duty of care for athletes and staff alike (Quartiroli et al., 2019; Wagstaff, 2019). The SPPs in this study attributed to sport psychology regulatory organizations and educational bodies part of the responsibilities to provide sufficient self-care education and resources to neophyte SPPs. By supporting self-care in younger professionals, these organizations may also indirectly enable them to engage in ethical and competent service practice delivery (Barnett et al., 2007).

The self-care hurdles that neophytes face

In discussing the challenges related to their own self-care, the neophyte SPPs of the current study recognized both (a) individual, and, (b) contextual obstacles to self-care that they face, and that represent a limitation to their ability to consistently engage in effective self-care practices.

Individual obstacles to self-care

Participants recognized a series of challenges that they deemed to be within their control, which began and ended with their own cognitions or behaviors. For example, participants described how taking on and managing too many roles or demands was detrimental to their own self-care and to their ability to engage in self-care practices. Primarily, this situation was linked to the number of responsibilities that these neophytes needed to juggle across training, professional practice and personal domains, while limiting their ability to devote time to reflect upon and prioritize their own needs and to engage in appropriate self-care practice. An example is provided by Jason who described how “working full-time whilst doing a Doctorate and then practicing full-time as well means that I’m either doing one or the other. It can be quite difficult to try, and I suppose have time… for yourself.”

Such concerns have also been reported by experienced and senior SPPs who described how similar challenges in relation to time management and over engagement in the profession presented challenge to their self-care practices (Quartiroli et al., 2019). However, these SPPs also indicated that through developing an understanding of when to say no and to better manage their individual workloads, they were able to better mitigate such challenges as they matured throughout their career. Interestingly, workload and perceived time pressures have been described as the most significant factors relating to burnout in applied psychologists, with review data indicating that younger applied psychologists have been reported to experience higher levels of burnout (McCormack et al., 2018). Although scholars are unsure as to whether such nuances exist due to age or professional experience (e.g., become better accustomed to professional challenges; Steel et al., 2015). These findings present key considerations for training and development pathways with regards to educating neophyte SPPs about the detrimental effects that high workloads may have upon their personal and professional well-being and self-care practices.

Participants also noted that a primary reason for finding themselves in situations whereby they had limited time for self-care was due to having limited self-awareness of their self-care needs or behaviors and their inability to say no when presented with new professional opportunities. As noted previously, self-awareness plays a key role in mobilizing effective self-care by promoting an awareness of one’s self-care needs and the required behaviors to fulfill those needs. Here, neophytes reported how through a limited self-awareness of their self-care needs and behaviors, they found themselves in situations where they had become negligent of such needs and were not effectively tending to their self-care. Participants noted how this was often a result of wanting to take on as many applied or research-based opportunities as possible, viewing such opportunities to be beneficial to their development or career trajectory. This was encapsulated by Natasha when asked to describe some of the challenges they faced when trying to practice self-care:

I think just a lack of prioritising my own needs, I think just getting caught up in the whole treadmill of I need to earn money, I need to do this for clients, or I need to do this for QSEP, basically not being remotely aware of myself and what is going on.

Given that the neophyte SPPs of the current study are most likely positioned within the advanced student or novice professional phases of Rønnestad and Skovholt (2013) model of therapist development it is to be somewhat expected that the participants of this study reported having limited self-awareness of their self-care needs as it is characteristic of these stages in therapist development for individuals to focus more rigidly on developing aspects of their competency as professionals (Tod, 2007). Indeed, scholars have indicated that early career psychology practitioners possess less professional coping resources than their more experienced counterpart, whilst experiencing more professional demands earlier in their career, which potentially leads them to engage in less self-care (Dorociak et al., 2017). Similarly, the SPPs in this study appear to have similar experiences in which they do not possess adequate resources (e.g., limited self-awareness) to manage the professional challenges (e.g., a need to earn money or gain experience) they face, which lead their self-care to be hindered.

Systemic obstacles to self-care

The contextual hurdles reported by these SPPs included the high intensity of training and the competitive job market in sport psychology, as well as the unpredictable, isolated and unfamiliar work environments that neophytes were exposed to. Indeed, Paul described how the volatile nature of employment in sport can be detrimental to self-care, stating “depending on if you’re self-employed or if you’re working for an organisation, some sports are known for being a bit of a merry go round with high turnover. So, job security, can potentially hinder self-care”. Indeed, the prevalence of managerial and organizational change in elite sport has been previously documented (Gilmore et al., 2018). Scholars highlighted the negative impacts that these changes have on those working within the organizations, including becoming a threat to SPPs well-being (Gilmore et al., 2018). As a result of experiencing this organizational instability, SPPs may develop sentiments of distrust and cynicism toward the organization (Wagstaff et al., 2016), worry about job security (Gilmore et al., 2018), and mental distress (Fløvik et al., 2019). Owton et al. (2014) investigated the effects of limited job security and opportunities to engage in applied practice for neophytes SPPs. They highlighted that when neophyte’s professional expectations, with regards to job availability, security and collaboration are challenged, their intentions to remain in the profession may be negatively impacted. It therefore may be important for organizational leaders to remain cognizant of the impact of organizational change can have on the wellbeing of support staff and their ability to engage in self-care behaviors, and the potentially negative consequence that unhealthy and unfit professionals may have on the organization.

Moreover, several of our participants reported that once they had secured roles within the profession, they experienced feelings of isolation from colleagues, describing an absence of social connections with their professional peers, inside and outside the sport psychology profession, as indicated by Paul who stated “I think it can be quite isolating… being a sport psychologist requires you to go up and down the country, travel abroad, travel a lot. So it can be quite isolating, long hours and long days”. This finding aligns with the experiences of senior SPPs who described how social support in the forms of personal and professional relationships are a key aspect of maintaining a positive professional experience and sustaining effective self-care practices within the profession (Quartiroli et al., 2019; 2019; 2021).

Further reflecting on their experiences of systemic hurdles to self-care, these participants described what they perceived to be a lack of attention toward self-care from the key stakeholders within the sport psychology profession (i.e., professional organizations and higher education institutions) within the UK. This lack of attention was described both in terms of lack of material geared to educate SPPs about self-care as well as a general lack of concern for self-care as a foundational aspect of their practice, as described by Peter when he said “Self-care is massively important and I don’t think enough governing bodies, be it BASES or BPS, put enough procedures in place to protect that”, as well as Ben who stated “it’s not something [self-care] that I feel the BPS are necessarily taking on board as much as they potentially should”. This lack of emphasis on self-care may not only lead neophytes to feel unprepared to enact self-care during their professional development but may also lead them to perceive self-care as being irrelevant to their professional well-being. Participants also expressed a desire for sport psychology organizations to include curricula modules focused on how to develop, enact and sustain their self-care practices within their training. By engaging in these efforts, these organizations may better support the future generation of SPPs by making self-care a priority and a foundation of their professional activity, whilst simultaneously protecting their personal wellbeing. This call for education is expressed by Ben:

I think they [organizations] need to place more emphasis on or make it one of the competencies… at the moment you’ve got consultancy, your CPD…you’ve got one for your research side of things as well. Have a competency for time that you’ve spent doing things that you enjoy as self-care, … I think it should be a priority.

Recently, scholars described the connection between one’s self-care and their professional experience in SPPs, calling for SPPs to invest in caring for both their personal and professional selves to enhance their professional competence and career longevity (Quartiroli et al., 2021). Similar calls have also been expressed for clinical and counseling psychology graduate and training programs (Bamonti et al., 2014). Zahniser et al. (2017) suggested that the promotion of self-care throughout training is associated with heightened trainees’ personal wellbeing, increased perceptions of progress, and the formation of a buffer against the detrimental aspects of training.

The deliberate implementation of self-care

Summarizing the salient self-care practices described by participants, this theme includes the deliberate and actionable self-care behaviors that neophyte SPPs reportedly engaged in. These actions can loosely be understood within the taxonomy offered by Godfrey et al. (2011) who classified three types of self-care: care of self, care by others and care for others.

In focusing upon themselves, participants described how they engaged in self-care actions which met their daily functioning needs, such as good sleep hygiene, correct nutrition and supplementation, regular physical activity and making time to be in nature. These SPPs attributed such self-care behaviors as being important to their overall health and well-being, such as Chris, who when discussing the importance of sleep said “It’s very easy to slip into a pattern where you’re not getting enough sleep, but that is an absolute basic when you talk about self-care” or Jess who said “Exercise is a huge one for me, whether I am here or travelling with a team, I always make time for that, it is important to me, if it means getting up at 5:30am that is what I’ll do”. Such self-care actions and behaviors are closely aligned to the eight therapeutic lifestyle changes outlined by Walsh (2011), who suggested that such behaviors are often overlooked when considering the overall well-being of individuals. The participants of this study deemed such behaviors to be non-negotiable within their self-care practices. Neophytes also described self-care behaviors which required more considered engagement and development, such as embedding mindfulness-based practices into their self-care routines through the use of mindfulness mobile apps or actively engaging in the mindfulness literature. Further, neophytes reported the implementation of self-reflective exercises to review, plan and refine one’s self-care practices and set goals in relation to their self-care practices. Engaging in such purposeful self-care practices and self-reflection, was reported by neophytes to afford themselves with a greater understanding of and self-awareness of their self-care practices and needs, as highlighted by Lucy:

I would put self-reflection at the top, because… if you’re not aware of any of this stuff [self-care] it’s really hard to change anything. So, I think you’ve got to be able to reflect on what you do, but people can reflect on what they do, and nothing changes because they haven’t accepted that things should change. So, I guess it’s self-reflection but also acceptance that things need to change.

The importance of reflection for SPP effectiveness and development has been established in the literature (Cropley et al., 2007, 2010). The present findings extend this literature, moving the connection from self-reflection to reflection practice within the service delivery context (Cropley et al., 2020), to become a key mechanism of effective self-care. The use of self-reflective practices to sustain the ability of SPPs to be effective and competent professionals, highlights their role as performers (Poczwardowski, 2019) and the importance for these professionals to take care of themselves to be able to take care of others (Quartiroli et al., 2019).

In addition to the self-care actions carried out individually, the neophyte SPPs of the current study also referred to actions carried out with others. These self-care actions included basic interactions such as socializing with friends and family on a regular basis in order to maintain health relationships with loved ones, as described by Abi who, when asked how she engaged in self-care, stated “making time for friends, making sure that those relationships are maintained, and you put time into them as well”. Further, neophyte SPPs spoke to the importance of actively seeking support from informal and formal peer networks within personal settings (e.g., spouses), professional settings (e.g., co-workers) and in training pathways (e.g., fellow trainees). Such support served as a way for neophyte SPPs to be reminded to focus on their own well-being and in some cases engage in peer reflection to provide challenge toward one another’s self-care, maintaining accountability toward each other’s self-care practices. This was exemplified by George when saying “In fact, I find my girlfriend very useful… she’s quite good at reminding me it’s okay to just chill out sometimes” as well as by Peter, who indicated the importance of peer support when he said “I am really fortunate I have got that group [supervision] I can attend and get things off my chest… and being able to discuss with other people is a huge thing for self-care”. Indeed, research to date has suggested that social support plays a key role in facilitating the self-care of psychology professionals in both the personal and professional aspects of their life (Posluns & Gall, 2020). Specifically, exploring the experience of SPPs, McCormack et al. (2015) highlighted the relationship between social support and burnout, showing how supporting personal and professional network function as protective factors against burnout in SPPs. Additionally, social support has been described as a key aspect of a positive professional experience in SPPs (Quartiroli et al., 2019), which is inextricably and reciprocally linked to self-care (Quartiroli et al., 2021).

These neophyte SPPs also described their own engagement in more formal help seeking behaviors. They detailed the benefits of attending personal therapy to increase self-knowledge and awareness, as well as improve their perceived coping resources for dealing with stressful parts of the training process, which Natasha explained when she said, “I’ve now started seeing a psychologist because I think in order to be a good psychologist you need to work on your own issues and not pass them on… that’s helped me gain a better awareness of myself”. Recommendations for psychology professionals to seek personal therapy have been prominent in the literature (Thériault et al., 2015), and even within trainee populations (Kumari, 2011), for the observed benefits it can have upon the development of trainee psychology professionals. Most recently, scholars have reported findings that suggested senior SPPs engage in personal counseling as an intrapersonal form of self-care (Quartiroli et al., 2021).

Finally, several neophyte SPPs reported how the act of caring for others constituted self-care, referring to the feelings of fulfillment and happiness when giving their time, attention or resources to those around them, as detailed by Chris when he said:

You’re helping someone else and that’s a good thing, but you’re also helping yourself by participating in other people’s lives and the wider community, you’re becoming a more rounded, health and happy whole person.

In sum, and similar to the suggestions made by Quartiroli et al. (2021), it is suggested that the self-care strategies are not to be viewed as being prescriptive or essential to “successful” self-care, rather, to be taken as a collection of possible strategies to be implemented by neophyte SPPs who wish to enhance their self-care practices.

Limitations and future research

Given the unique experiences of neophyte SPPs and the individual nature of self-care, the findings presented within are not expected to be generalizable to the wider SPP population. Moreover, the relatively homogenous participant sample comprised predominantly of UK based, White neophyte SPPs, enrolled on a BPS accreditation pathway does not adequately represent the diverse population of neophyte SPP’s within the UK or in other countries across the world; with the experiences of Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities within the UK, as well as those engaged in other training routes (BASES SEPAR) missing from the current study sample.

To further our current understanding of SPP self-care and particularly neophyte SPPs self-care, it is important that future research is conducted to explore the self-care experiences of neophyte SPPs from across the globe to better understand how differences in cultural perspectives may influence the ways in which globally situated neophyte SPPs experience and engage in self-care. Further, the extant self-care literature in sport psychology has focused on individual self-care. Future research could begin to investigate the effects of organizational culture, values and environments on SPP self-care as well as the self-care of other support staff.

Implications

From the experiences of the neophyte SPPs in the current study, a number of applied implications can be drawn for neophyte SPPs and the profession of sport psychology as a whole. Firstly, the perspectives of neophyte SPPs explored in this study provide insight into a myriad self-care practices neophytes to use to enhance their personal and professional well-being. A wide range of potential strategies and combination of such strategies for self-care have been observed, reported and discussed within, yet each strategy represents only one of several possible ways in which neophyte SPPs may combine self-care strategies develop effective self-care. As such, the authors place particular emphasis on the non-prescriptive nature of these findings and draw the reader’s attention to the importance of the underpinning mechanisms which participants reported to drive their self-care strategies. Indeed, mechanisms such as self-awareness, psychological flexibility and the use of multiple self-care strategies have been previously mentioned in the wider body of self-care literature (Dorociak et al., 2017; Posluns & Gall, 2020) as well as the sport psychology literature (Quartiroli, Eztel, et al., 2019; Quartiroli et al., 2021). Nevertheless, this study provides the first empirical evidence supporting such factors as underpinning effective self-care in neophyte SPP populations. The findings presented herein therefore offer neophyte SPPs with a number of key considerations to reflect upon with regards to the key elements of effective self-care as reported by other neophyte SPPs, and how such mechanisms currently exist in their own self-care practices. Additionally, the findings presented within explore the ways in which neophyte SPPs experienced challenge and support with regards to the development of their self-care and self-care practices. Such insights may prove useful for those responsible for the development and education of SPPs within the UK (e.g., British Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists, British Psychological Society, and the Health Care Professions Council), with regards to informing a better integration of self-care curricula in both higher education and SPP training routes as well as the monitoring of neophyte SPPs self-care competency throughout supervised practice routes.

Conclusion

The current study began with the aim of providing an exploration of neophyte SPPs experiences and perceptions of their self-care practices to extend and complement the existing sport psychology literature to date focusing almost exclusively on the self-care experience of senior and experience professionals. Following a reflexive thematic analysis of interview data, the current study identified five main themes which provide a rounded exploration of how neophyte SPPs experience and understand their self-care, what leads them to engage in self-care practices and how they perceive their effectiveness, and how they perceived the sport psychology professional system support or hinder their ability to develop and maintain effective self-care practices. The findings presented herein provide implications for neophyte SPP practitioners, SPP educators and regulators of the profession by offering a systematic exploration of self-care in neophyte populations and providing the current body of research with a greater understanding of how neophyte SPPs engage in and experience their self-care practices.