Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

High-performance coaches (HPCs) encounter a wide range of demands and face challenges engaging in self-care and recovery activities to promote a sustainable coaching career. In this innovative mixed method study, we aimed to gain an understanding of HPCs’ experiences of a brief mindful self-reflection intervention. To address this aim, 18 HPCs completed an 8-week daily intervention and reported their ratings of mood and energy via daily SMS-diaries. Self-reported measures of self-compassion, mindfulness, and well-being were collected at pre-intervention, 2 weeks post-intervention, and 6 months post-intervention. Qualitative data consisted of focus group interviews that were conducted 2 weeks after the intervention ended and a written follow-up containing three questions 6 months after the intervention. To further explore the mechanisms throughout the intervention, participants were categorized into two groups, High Mood and Energy (HME) and Low Mood and Energy (LME), and we compared these groupings with qualitative data. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we subsequently developed two overarching themes from these data that characterized group differences, (viz. HME: “Self-aware and open to attend to self-care needs and well-being” and LME: “Reflecting resistance to the intervention and low self-awareness”). Taken together, we interpret these data to suggest this mindful self-reflection intervention has the potential to enhance HPCs’ self-compassion. This work provides knowledge that can help guide both coaches and organizations in their quest to promote sustainable coaching careers in the elite sport context and we offer recommendations for practitioners working with HPCs. © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Psychological strengths are idealized in elite sport and contribute to the presence of stigma surrounding mental health issues and a high threshold for help-seeking behavior. Recently, scholars have argued that the concept of vulnerability has the potential to challenge the dominance of the performance narrative in sport. In this article, we provide practitioners with innovative poem and word cloud resources based on insights from high-performance coaches to enable conversations about vulnerability in sport. We hope practitioners will use these resources to stimulate reflection and dialogue about vulnerability, which may lower thresholds for help-seeking and foster sustainability in sport organizations.

Mindfulness and self-compassion are two constructs positively related to well-being and mental health outside sport. Within sport, these constructs are emerging in research, yet the extant work has primarily been conducted with athlete samples. The aim of this scoping review was to provide a broad synthesis of the literature on mindfulness and self-compassion among coaches. Fourteen articles were included, 11 of them published 2019–2022. Of the 14 publications, the concepts studied were mindfulness (n = 10), self-compassion (n = 2), and a combination of both (n = 2). The samples were predominantly male coaches (68.7%), and most of the studies targeted coaches at the elite or competitive level. The most common area studied was developing and testing interventions and programs, followed by depicting relationships of mindfulness or self-compassion with desirable outcomes. This review significantly extends the current knowledge by illuminating critical issues in this rapidly moving area of research; the need for conceptual and contextual clarity of mindfulness and self-compassion; methodological considerations, such as measures that may allow reliable comparison across studies; and the need to further explore the potential benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion for coaches for sustainability and performance.

High-performance coaches (HPCs) operate in complex and unpredictable environments wherein sustainable performance and well-being are regularly challenged. The purpose of this study was to develop, through an iterative process of data collection, evaluation and action, a brief SMS-based mindful self-reflection intervention to support sustainable high-performance coaching. We present this work through the form of a process evaluation. After an initial pilot intervention, three subsequent phases of development took place with 18 HPCs from athletics and figure skating. In each phase, HPCs completed a daily or weekly brief mindful self-reflection SMS-intervention for 8 weeks prior to taking part in a focus group interview and 6-month or 12-month follow-up. The results of the process evaluation demonstrate exceptionally high fidelity, reach and perceived value of the intervention for the HPCs. The HPCs also perceived the intervention to influence key mechanisms for a sustainable profession such as greater engagement in their well-being (e.g., self-awareness, helpful perspective on vulnerability and self-compassion). Moreover, lasting behavior changes associated with sustainability were reported at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. This process evaluation reflects a rigorously developed and novel procedure for the delivery of a brief mindful self-reflection intervention and appears easy to use by HPCs in their demanding roles.Lay Summary: We present a process evaluation of a mindful self-reflection intervention developed to foster sustainable high-performance coaching. Over four development phases we refine the SMS-based intervention and report exceptionally high fidelity, reach and perceived value among the participants. At 6- and 12-month follow-ups participants reported lasting behavior changes associated with sustainability.Implications for practiceThis brief SMS-based mindful self-reflection intervention facilitated healthy perspectives on vulnerability and help-seeking behavior and prompted behavior change aligned with self-compassion and well-being at 6- and 12-months follow-ups. Hence, the SMS intervention may provide practitioners with a tool for supporting sustainability among high-performance coaches.The process evaluation presented here demonstrated exceptionally high fidelity with the simplicity of the SMS intervention seemingly key to this outcome. Moreover, receiving positive reinforcement throughout the intervention and having opportunities to share their experiences in focus group interviews influenced the participants? perceived value of mindful self-reflection over time.This user-friendly intervention offers a mechanism for self and shared understanding in sport organizations and may provide insights for a range of stakeholders regarding the value of new ways of working that promote vulnerability, openness, help-seeking and collaboration.

Elittränares förutsättningar och resurser kan variera stort beroende på vilken idrott de arbetar i. Däremot är elitidrottens kärna att skapa resultat, prestationsutveckling och att sträva efter segrar gemensam för alla elittränare, vilket skapar en komplex och krävande arbetsmiljö. De senaste åren har utbrändhet bland tränare och ledare studerats i allt större utsträckning, vilket har ökat kunskapen om det ohållbara i ledarrollen. Stress och utbrändhet bidrar till omsättning av tränare och ledare och påverkar även idrottare och deras prestationer. Sammantaget visar det på ett tomrum värt att undersöka: Vad kan bidra till och främja en hållbar karriär som tränare och ledare inom elitidrotten?

Det primära syftet med studien som legat till grund för den här rapporten har varit att testa ett verktyg som syftar till att främja hållbart ledarskap. Verktyget har utvecklats i ett praktiknära samarbete med elittränare sedan 2016. Det baseras på en SMS-dagbok som skapat ett stort engagemang med 98–100 procent svarsfrekvens bland elittränare. Preliminära resultat från uppföljningar efter sex och tolv månader visar effekter i form av beteendeförändringar som främjar välbefinnande och hållbarhet med tydlig anknytning till self-compassion (självmedkänsla).

I den här rapporten kommer vi främst att lägga fokus på att beskriva verktyget och vilka effekter, på kort och lång sikt, det haft för 18 landslagstränare inom Svenska Simförbundet. Under våren 2019 genomförde elittränarna en SMS-dagbok som innehöll en kort och enkel mindfulness-övning i form av en daglig paus för reflektion i åtta sammanhängande veckor. Dessutom genomfördes en efterföljande fokusgrupp, självskattningar på Self-Compassion Scale Short Form vid tre tillfällen samt en skriftlig uppföljning efter sex månader.

I denna studie skapade SMS-dagboken utrymme för elittränarna att stanna upp i vardagen, vilket bidrog till ökad självreflektion och självkännedom samt tydliggjorde vad de mår bra av och vad de värdesätter i livet. Uppföljningarna efter sex månader visade på bestående effekter, framför allt i form av ökad självreflektion och självkännedom samt en ökning av self-compassion utifrån självskattade data. Då det är en liten grupp ska detta tolkas med försiktighet. Utifrån våra resultat föreslår vi att fler testar SMS-dagboken inom olika idrotter, dels för att undersöka vad SMS-dagboken med paus för reflektion kan bidra med, dels för att få en djupare förståelse för relationen mellan självreflektion, self-compassion och hållbart ledarskap. Vidare ser vi ett behov av att se över vilka stödsystem som finns för elittränare samt hur föreningar, förbund och de stora organisationerna kan skapa förutsättningar för ett hållbart ledarskap ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv.

Avslutningsvis ger vi konkreta tips för hur man kan använda det här enkla verktyget   i den egna verksamheten för att stärka ett hållbart ledarskap.

Indicators of health have shown improvements in the Swedish working population during the past decades, but with the exception of low-skilled women. Earlier research has shown that assistant nurses belong to an occupational group, which has the lowest share of individuals with long-term health in the total Swedish workforce. Sick leave research has mostly focused on determining risk factors for the development of diseases and dysfunctions. In the process of acquiring knowledge about mechanisms for sick leave, it has become obvious that there is also a need to focus on what contributes to work ability. The aim in this study was to explore what promotes sustainable work ability in female assistant nurses working in care of older people. Associations between factors related to work, health, lifestyle and sustainable work ability were investigated in a cross-sectional nested case-control study in a cohort of 366 female assistant nurses. Data were collected in self-reports in a questionnaire. Odds ratios were calculated, and a multiple logistic regression analysis was performed with sustainable work ability as the dependent variable. Sustainable work ability was associated with good self-rated health, a BMI <30, ability to sleep well, recuperation, low stress level, support from family and friends, being over 25 years of age at birth of the first child, and control over one's own life in the ≥50 age group. In the logistic regression analysis, the significant associations were good self-rated health, being over 25 years of age at the birth of the first child and recuperation. In conclusion, the study showed that self-rated health and factors in private life are important for assistant nurse's sustainable work ability over time. The results from this study could be applied in health promotion work for employees in the care sector to strengthen and enhance sustainable work ability.