Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being.
Well-being and mental health of psychologists and their clients can be strongly linked to the psychologists’ experience of work. We know from general theories of occupational health psychology that certain work factors will have a greater impact on well-being than others. Work engagement is positive...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01854/full |
| _version_ | 1818494662868992000 |
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| author | Hannah eMcCormack Tadhg Eoghan Macintyre Deirdre eO'Shea Mark J Campbell Eric R Igou |
| author_facet | Hannah eMcCormack Tadhg Eoghan Macintyre Deirdre eO'Shea Mark J Campbell Eric R Igou |
| author_sort | Hannah eMcCormack |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Well-being and mental health of psychologists and their clients can be strongly linked to the psychologists’ experience of work. We know from general theories of occupational health psychology that certain work factors will have a greater impact on well-being than others. Work engagement is positively related with occupational health, while burnout and workaholic tendencies relate negatively. An individual’s resources can buffer against these negative effects. Specifically, the environmental resource of social support can impede the impact and instance of workaholism and has a positive influence on burnout. Social support is often encouraged by sport psychologists in protecting an athlete’s well-being. Drawing on theory and research from work and organisational, health and social psychology we explore the lived experiences of burnout and work engagement among applied sport psychologists, investigating their perceptions of how these experiences impact their well-being. Thirty participants from five countries were asked, using semi-structured interviews, to recall specific incidents when feelings of work engagement and burnout occurred. We examined the influence of social support and its impact on these incidents. Thematic analysis revealed that burnout is frequently experienced despite high levels of work engagement. Sources of social support differ between groups of high burnout versus low burnout, as does reference to the dimensions of work engagement. Avenues for future research including investigating the role of mindfulness and therapeutic lifestyle changes for practitioners are outlined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T18:09:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa129c34ea1c4df2984e37f10ca59554 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T18:09:32Z |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa129c34ea1c4df2984e37f10ca595542022-12-22T01:38:31ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-12-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.01854159528Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being.Hannah eMcCormack0Tadhg Eoghan Macintyre1Deirdre eO'Shea2Mark J Campbell3Eric R Igou4University of LimerickUniversity of LimerickUniversity of LimerickUniversity of LimerickUniversity of LimerickWell-being and mental health of psychologists and their clients can be strongly linked to the psychologists’ experience of work. We know from general theories of occupational health psychology that certain work factors will have a greater impact on well-being than others. Work engagement is positively related with occupational health, while burnout and workaholic tendencies relate negatively. An individual’s resources can buffer against these negative effects. Specifically, the environmental resource of social support can impede the impact and instance of workaholism and has a positive influence on burnout. Social support is often encouraged by sport psychologists in protecting an athlete’s well-being. Drawing on theory and research from work and organisational, health and social psychology we explore the lived experiences of burnout and work engagement among applied sport psychologists, investigating their perceptions of how these experiences impact their well-being. Thirty participants from five countries were asked, using semi-structured interviews, to recall specific incidents when feelings of work engagement and burnout occurred. We examined the influence of social support and its impact on these incidents. Thematic analysis revealed that burnout is frequently experienced despite high levels of work engagement. Sources of social support differ between groups of high burnout versus low burnout, as does reference to the dimensions of work engagement. Avenues for future research including investigating the role of mindfulness and therapeutic lifestyle changes for practitioners are outlined.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01854/fullEthicsMental HealthSelf Caresocial supportsport psychologyburnout |
| spellingShingle | Hannah eMcCormack Tadhg Eoghan Macintyre Deirdre eO'Shea Mark J Campbell Eric R Igou Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. Frontiers in Psychology Ethics Mental Health Self Care social support sport psychology burnout |
| title | Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. |
| title_full | Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. |
| title_fullStr | Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. |
| title_short | Practicing what we preach: Investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well-being. |
| title_sort | practicing what we preach investigating the role of social support in sport psychologists well being |
| topic | Ethics Mental Health Self Care social support sport psychology burnout |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01854/full |
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