High performance coaching

In the framework of modern market economy, aside from various skills and knowledge, teachers are required to contrive a complex mosaic of roles and interactions which may result in the experience of prolonged stress and professional burnout. According to Lazarus and Folkman (2004), the manner of coping with the stress, as stated in their transaction model, implies a dynamic process which changes over time depending on objective requirements and subjective assessments of the situation for the purpose of solving the problem and/or reducing the intensity of a psychophysiological reaction within the stress process. Since the 1970s increasing importance has been attached to teachers' experience of stress and the manner of coping with it. Kyriacou and Sutcliffe (1978) define teacher's stress as a reaction to negative affects - anger, anxiety, tension, frustration, or depression, which result in potentially pathogenic physiological or biochemical changes. General factors of professional stress are present in all cultures and they are determined by the general status of education. Specific factors stem from a specific social environment, as well as from the professional status of teachers and their competences. Specific stress factors are related to the teacher's personality, their value system in the process of interaction with the particular environment. Some of the significant personality traits, studied as specific factors of the professional stress, are dimensional models of personality within the five-factor model-self-efficiency, self-silencing, job satisfaction, styles of coping with stress, the level of burnout. According to research studies, the experience of professional stress and burnout is influenced by higher levels of neuroticism, aggressiveness, self-silencing, higher values of optimism, emotional competence, self-efficiency, life satisfaction, styles of coping with stress, as well as by the level of education at which teachers work. Research studies which the author has consulted mostly refer to teachers as a population at risk. Hence, aside from an analysis of professional stress factors, the author recommends that it would be essential to study and suggest possible directions of preventive actions in order to preserve and improve teachers' mental and physical health. In the current social moment, it appears that it is most beneficial to observe individual personality of teachers from the standpoint of positive psychology and develop teachers' individual resources for coping with professional stress.

Asthma remains the most prevalent chronic illness among children. Despite the substantial body of literature examining children with asthma, few studies have examined parents’ perspectives of the condition and experiences of caregiver stress. Parents of children with chronic illnesses experience elevated stress and may have limited opportunities to cope with complex emotions while caring for children with asthma. Drawing from focus groups and interviews with African American and Hispanic parents of children with asthma, this qualitative study was conducted as part of a patient-centered engagement process to inform the refinement of an intervention aimed at reducing stress among parents of children with asthma. All data were transcribed and underwent three waves of inductive analysis. The content analysis indicated that the unpredictable nature of asthma and the caregiving burden associated with managing children’s asthma contributed to parents’ stress, and external contexts compounded the impact of these stressors. Parents also reported having difficulty identifying how they coped with stress and employed approaches to coping with stress that they applied intermittently but encountered several barriers to enacting known or available coping strategies. Analyses also revealed that parents desired a multimodal stress reduction intervention that emphasized building relationships, allowed for flexibility, and encouraged staff-parent communication. Whereas African American and Hispanic parents’ experiences of stress and coping strategies were similar, their preferences differed in regards to incorporating technology into the intervention, the credentials of facilitators, and the salience of language preferences. Understanding the complexities of stressors facing caregivers is important for developing interventions to support parents and children coping with asthma, and in particular when working with families from diverse backgrounds.

Background: Previous research has noted sex-based differences in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury rates in young athletes, while little is known about medial collateral ligament (MCL) and meniscal injury rates in this population. The objective of this study was to compare injury rates for traumatic knee injuries (ie, ACL, MCL, and meniscal injuries) in collegiate and high school (HS) varsity student-athletes across multiple sports. Hypothesis: Knee injury rates vary by sex and across different sports and levels of competition. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Injury and athlete-exposure data were utilized from the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) during the 2009-2010 to 2013-2014 academic years. Analyses focused on ACL, MCL, and meniscal injuries. Injury rates and injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% CIs were calculated for basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and baseball/softball. Results: The ACL injury rate was higher for female than male athletes at the collegiate (IRR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.81-3.41) and HS (IRR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.67-3.18) levels. At the collegiate level, the highest ACL IRR comparing female to male athletes was reported in softball/baseball (IRR, 6.61; 95% CI, 1.48-29.55). At the HS level, the highest ACL IRR was reported in basketball (IRR, 3.68; 95% CI, 1.91-7.10). The MCL injury rate was higher for female than male athletes at the HS level (IRR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.25-3.56) but lower for female than male athletes at the collegiate level (IRR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.59-0.92). The meniscal injury rate was lower for female than male athletes at the HS level (IRR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.31-0.71), while no differences by sex were seen at the collegiate level (IRR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.90-2.02). Conclusion: Knee injury rates varied by sex across 5 different sports in the HS and collegiate settings. Female athletes sustained ACL injuries at a higher rate than male athletes at both the HS and collegiate levels in these 5 sports; however, there was not a distinct sex disparity in MCL and meniscal injuries. Future studies should examine the rates of concomitant and recurrent injuries to inform injury prevention and rehabilitation programs.

Objective To explore the stress experience and coping style of practice nursing students in critical care medicine department, and to provide theoretical evidence for improving the quality of clinical nursing teaching. Methods A total of 17 practice nursing students were selected by purposive sampling, and the participants were interviewed by semi-structured depth interview. Data were analyzed using phenomenological approach. Results Four themes were extracted: obsession of hysteretic knowledge; strong body stress; negative emotional stress; multiple coping strategies. Conclusions Clinical nursing teachers should pay attention to the rational teaching methods and coping efficiency of the students so as to maintain their physical and mental health. Key words: Stress; Coping style; Qualitative study; Critical care medicine department; Practice nursing student

BackgroundApproximately 20% of total knee arthroplasty patients experience persistent postsurgical pain one year after surgery. No qualitative studies have explored previous stories of painful or stressful life experiences in patients experiencing persistent postsurgical pain after total knee replacement. This study aimed to explore stories of previous painful or stressful experiences in life in a cohort of patients that reported no improvement in pain one year after total knee arthroplasty.MethodsThe study employed an explorative-descriptive qualitative design. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews five to seven years after surgery, with patients who reported no improvement in pain-related interference with walking 12 months after total knee replacement. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe sample consisted of 13 women and 10 men with a median age of 67 years at the time of surgery. Prior to surgery, six reported having at least one chronic illness and 16 reported having two or more painful sites. Two main themes were identified in the data analysis: Painful years - the burden of living with long lasting pain, and the burden of living with psychological distress.ConclusionsThe participants had severe long lasting knee pain as well as long lasting pain in other locations, in addition to experiences of psychologically stressful life events before surgery. Health personnel needs to address the experience and perception of pain and psychological struggles, and how it influences patients’ everyday life including sleeping routines, work- and family life as well as to identify possible vulnerability for persistent postsurgical pain. Identifying and assessing the challenges enables personalized care and support, such as advice on pain management, cognitive support, guided rehabilitation, and coping strategies both pre-and post-surgery.

BackgroundStress in adolescence is associated with adverse mental health outcomes. Coping resources have been proved by literature to have buffering effects on the impact of stress on mental health. It is imperative to understand the stress and coping strategies of adolescents. However, to date, there has been a scarce of qualitative examination of stress and coping strategies in adolescents in a Chinese population.ObjectivesThis study aimed to understand the stress experience and coping strategies of high school students in China.MethodsThis study adopted a qualitative design involving three focus group interviews. A purposive sampling method was used to recruit high school students who were enrolled in grades 10 to 11, and their teachers, at a Chinese high school which resulted in 20 students and 9 teacher participants. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 4 themes were identified: (i) sources of stress; (ii) impacts of stress (iii) coping strategies used by students; and (iv) recommendations for stress management programs. Students experienced excessive stress in their daily lives. The primary source of stress came from high expectations for academic achievement. Other sources of stress were peer relationships and family issues. The stress had negative impacts on students’ emotions, sleep, study, and mental wellbeing. The students demonstrated various coping strategies, with the most common being avoidant coping. Students and teachers agreed that the coping strategies were not effective in reducing stress in the long run and that more coping skills training was needed.ConclusionsThis study is the first to assess the perceptions of Chinese high school students and their teachers regarding adolescent stress experiences and coping strategies. Chinese high school students experienced significant stress in their daily lives and demonstrated unhelpful coping strategies. Participants demonstrated consensus that they did not have the skills to cope. There is a demonstrated need for interventions that focus on increasing coping skills in this population.

This paper describes the result of a qualitative study designed to explore how experience of work-related stress is connected with the way individuals construct their self, their relationship with the organisation and their coping strategies. Seven university lecturers with different degrees of experienced stress were interviewed. This paper describes two emerged themes: the role of self-image and identification with an organisation. Analysis of two sub-themes on ‘ambitions’ and ‘competitiveness’ identified a tendency suggesting that the importance of self-image for the individuals may contribute to their vulnerability to stress. This paper also proposes that there is a relationship between the degree of identification with the organisation and participants’ experience of stress. It is argued that awareness of individual differences in terms of the identified factors by individuals and by those who provide support in their coping process is of crucial importance.

There is considerable research to date in the field of stress, particularly with respect to questionnaire research. There is, however, a lack of recent research on stress in the British Army which addresses either traumatic or organisational stress. This study considers soldiers' experiences of both occupational and traumatic stress, in addition to identifying the contribution of an individual's expectations and evaluations of a deployment, on mental well-being. Furthermore, this research methodology incorporates standardised psychological questionnaires, free response items and interviews with personnel, which serve to provide a comprehensive approach with high face validity. This study aims to encompass the major aspects which influence the onset and course of stress, including stress experiences, individual differences and coping, in one model. Both studies incorporate traumatic and organisational stress, which is particularly relevant in the military profession, where there is risk of exposure to traumatic events. This study attempts to redress the paucity of research on stress in the British Army as a result of conflicts since WWII, in addition to countering the lack of research into occupational stress in the British Army, or information of a longitudinal nature. This study also provides a much needed 'baseline' of data across the British Army regarding stress experiences and reactions. The study also incorporates qualitative aspects, where the respondents are asked what they define as stressful experiences, as opposed to completing a list of pre-defined 'stressors', in addition to incorporating interviews to validate the responses. Finally, an individual's evaluation of a situation, or belief in their actions is taken into account in this research. It is argued that this is of particular importance in a military operational context, when soldiers are no longer deploying in defence of their country against an external threat. It was therefore considered important to establish if there were any effects on psychological well-being based on an individual's evaluation of the deployment situation. This research was conducted in two phases: Study 1 which is a cross-sectional study, proportionate to size across the British Army, and Study 2 which is a longitudinal survey, before and after a six month operational deployment to Northern Ireland. The questionnaire material incorporates both standardised questionnaires and a specific Army questionnaire designed for the study. Support was found for the proposed models of both general (Study 1) and operational stress (Study 2). Previous findings were supported concerning the interrelationships between neuroticism, anxiety, emotion focused coping and adverse life events, and were independent of mastery, self esteem, problem focused coping and well-being. Thirty three and thirty nine percent of respondents reported General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) values above the cut off criteria for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. Individual differences concerning reported mental health were noted, particularly with respect to age, marital status and the occurrence of a significant life event. Recommendations addressed the lack of clear evidence for adopting a 'screening out' procedure based upon personality characteristics for mainstream Army deployments. It was suggested that the traumatic aspects of the research could benefit from an alternative questionnaire to the Impact of Events Scale (IES), due to some of the difficulties found in using the questionnaire. It was also suggested that coping strategies should be investigated in greater detail, within a more context specific manner with tighter response definitions. Finally, it is believed that the impact of cumulative operational deployments on the mental health of soldiers needs to be thoroughly researched.

Challenging situations and interactions are necessary and unavoidable in sport. From deselection to injury, burnout, and mental health issues, coaches and athletes will face challenging situations throughout their sporting career. The aims of this research study were to (a) introduce a conceptual model of challenging situations and subsequently to (b) explore a range of challenging situations that occur in high-performance sport, and (c) discover how such challenging situations are managed and perceived by high-performance coaches. In this study, challenging situations in coach–athlete dyads are defined as organisational, performance, interpersonal, and personal stressors that can push or pull one or both the coach and athlete, and subsequently their relationship into a state of indeterminacy (i.e., the Grey Zone) that may cause stress, strain, conflict, or resolution and understanding depending on how the challenging situations are managed. A total of 11 current high-performance and World Class Performance coaches (M = 41.64 years old, SD = 10.69 years; female = 4, male = 7), took part in a semistructured interview aided by vignettes to explore and discover the process by which coaches deal with challenging situations. Using a pragmatism approach, a content analysis guided by the conceptual Grey Zone Model was utilised to analyse the obtained qualitative data. Results indicated that coaches regularly experience challenging situations and use a variety of techniques to manage them. The Grey Zone Model is proposed as a practical tool to help coaches, athletes, and other practitioners, such as sport psychology consultants and coach developers to analyse the various phases of challenging situations.

A survey of military wives ( N = 77) identifies their most stressful experiences, self-appraised control over these stressors, and coping strategies used. The authors examine two competing hypotheses: the goodness-of-fit hypothesis that the effects of problem-focused coping (PFC) and emotion-focused coping (EFC) strategies on distress are moderated by the appraised controllability of the stressor, and the main-effects hypothesis that PFC strategies are more effective than EFC strategies in reducing distress regardless of appraisal of controllability. Wives identified deployment of soldiers as their most stressful experience, and reported using PFC strategies more frequently than EFC strategies. EFC strategies were predictive of greater physical symptoms of illness, while PFC strategies were related to reduced physical symptoms of illness only when military wives’ perceived control of the situation was low. PFC strategies and controllability were significantly related to decreased depressive symptoms; EFC was marginally related to increased depressive symptoms, lending greater support to the main-effects hypothesis.

This paper examined teacher-education students' stress experience and strategies to cope with the demands related to their pre-teaching evaluation performance. It employed a quantitative research design (descriptive-correlation) through the use of two standardized survey questionnaires, the Stress Survey Questionnaire (SSQ) and Student's Coping Scale (SCS), in collecting the needed data for inferential analysis. The respondents of this research were 135 teacher-education students of a public higher education institution in the province of Cebu, Philippines. The respondents were solicited via a purposive random sampling technique. This paper found that most teacher-education students had a very satisfactory performance relative to their pre-teaching performance evaluation. Differing from the existing literature, the respondents experienced a moderate level of stress while fairly utilizing unhealthy means to cope with the demand in school. Results further revealed that the stress experienced by respondents relates to their coping strategies. In contrast, both stress experienced and coping strategies do not relate to the pre-teaching performance of the respondents. Based on the findings and conclusion, this paper proposed an intervention plan for adoption.
 
 Received: 10 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 September 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

P03-362 - Experienced stress, self-efficacy, self-esteem and strategies of coping with stress and their association with clinical symptoms in schizophrenia

Guided by transactional stress theory, this study aimed to explore elite U.K. soccer coaches’ perceived stressors, the situational properties, appraisals, and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also aimed to explore any variation in stress experiences across football league standards A total of 13 professional first-team male U.K. association football coaches between 38 and 59 years of age (M = 43.00, SD = 6.94) participated in telephone (n = 5) or online (n = 8) semistructured interviews. Informed by the philosophical position of critical realism, Braun et al.’s six-phase approach to thematic analysis was used to generate competitive, organizational, and personal stressor themes. Deductive thematic analysis generated themes reflective of all situational properties of stressors identified by Lazarus and Folkman and an array of appraisal and coping strategies. Future research and recommendations for supporting coach performance and well-being post-COVID-19 pandemic are offered.

Vital exhaustion (VE) results from the experience of chronic stress. However, research on stress types and their relation to VE is rare. Moreover, the role of implicit motives in these processes has not yet been investigated. Analysis included 101 vitally exhausted men aged 40–65 years. Participants provided self-report data on their experience of chronic stress and social support. Subtypes of work-related and social stress were positively associated with VE. Implicit affiliation and achievement motives were linked to social support and chronic stress, and indirectly to VE. Moreover, they moderated the relationship between stress and exhaustion. In conclusion, implicit motives are key factors in the stress process: They are involved in an individual's experience of stress and stress-related consequences for mental health.

BackgroundMigrants experience stress before, during and after migrating to a new country, all of which influences their mental wellbeing. In Norway, migration from Thailand is highly gendered as most Thai migrants are women who migrate to live with their Norwegian spouse. Massage shops, often owned by Thai entrepreneurs, are a locale where women use their cultural knowledge to bridge into the local economy. There is little knowledge about Thai migrant masseuses’ experience of stress in daily life and associated coping strategies. The objective of this inquiry was to examine stressors and coping strategies among Thai migrant masseuses in Oslo, Norway.MethodsWe conducted in-depth interviews with 14 Thai migrants who were working as masseuses in Oslo, Norway. We asked participants about their health, experiences of stress, and coping strategies and subsequently analyzed the data using thematic analysis.ResultsStress in participants’ lives related to settling in, loneliness, finances and spousal relationships. Of these, relationship conflict was the largest source of stress. Women largely embraced self-coping strategies and utilized Thai cultural practices and Buddhist cognitive thinking. Once relationship conflict became untenable, participants fought to change their situation. Limited fluency in Norwegian, Thai stigma about mental health and limited knowledge of the Norwegian health system were barriers to seeking healthcare.ConclusionsMigrants in our study often adopted “Thainess”, the use of Thai cultural practices and Buddhist cognitive thinking, as a strategy for coping with stress. Preferences for self-coping, mental health stigma, and linguistic competency are important considerations when designing mental wellbeing interventions for Thai women. Use of an interpreter or systems navigator can help overcome language barriers. Clinicians can take detailed case histories to better understand Thai patients’ stress, coping strategies and wellbeing. Health policy makers could consider network approaches, including using Thai health systems navigators to bridge the health system and Thai communities.