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Elite coaches have a similar prevalence of depressive symptoms to the general population and lower rates than elite athletes
  1. Simon Sang Yeob Kim1,
  2. Bruce Hamiliton2,
  3. Sarah Beable1,
  4. Alana Cavadino3,
  5. Mark L Fulcher1,3,4
  1. 1Axis Sports Medicine Specialists, Auckland, New Zealand
  2. 2High Performance Sport New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand
  3. 3School of Population Health, The University of Auckland–City Campus, Auckland, New Zealand
  4. 4New Zealand Football, Football House, QBE Stadium, Stadium Drive, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
  1. Correspondence to Dr Simon Sang Yeob Kim; s.kim{at}axissportsmedicine.co.nz

Abstract

Objective The primary aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and life stress in elite coaches. The secondary aim was to explore the associations of depressive symptoms and life stress with demographic and lifestyle variables.

Methods National-level coaches were invited to participate in an online survey. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale-Revised (CESD-R). Life stress was measured using daily life hassle frequency and severity scores calculated from the Daily Hassles Questionnaire, with associations evaluated using linear regression.

Results Of 110 potential participants, 69 completed and two partially completed surveys were received. The majority of respondents were male (77%), coaching individual sports (70%) and aged under 50 (71%). Overall, 14% of coaches reported at least moderate depressive symptoms according to the CESD-R. Those contemplating retirement were more likely to show depressive symptoms. Reported life stress was higher in females and in those contemplating retirement. There was a strong association between life stress and the odds of experiencing depressive symptoms (p=0.006).

Conclusions Depressive symptoms are as prevalent in elite coaches as in general population, with potential risk factors including high levels of life stress and impending retirement.

  • depression
  • mental
  • psychology
  • psychiatry
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000719

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    Footnotes

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Ethics approval Ethical approval was granted by the University of Auckland Human Ethics Committee (reference 020439).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article.