Effective coping mechanisms of elite ultra-endurance athletes

Abstract

Background: The compulsion to test one’s endurance capacity is widespread inmodern society, demonstrated for example by the increased participation rateswithin adventure sports (Jirasek, 2007). Psychologically based evidence withinthe corpus reveals that effective coping mechanisms, conducive to elite ultraenduranceathletes performance, is limited. Objectives: The aims of the thesiswere four-fold. Firstly, clarification of the stressors elite endurance athletesencounter during their sporting disciplines was sought. Secondly, the study aimedto establish specific, effective coping mechanisms which these athletesimplement to overcome stressors. A coping framework was then developed fromthe information gleaned from the gathered data. Finally, the effectiveness ofspecific coping mechanisms were illuminated, and the coping framework wastested for accuracy. The overall aim of the thesis is to provide performers andsports psychologists with a comprehensive framework for managing and guidingultra-endurance based athletes. Method: A mixed methods approach wasimplemented. A qualitative research approach, guided by grounded theory wasemployed to contextualize the complexities of elite ultra-endurance athletescoping methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with an internationalcohort of elite, information rich specialists, specifically mountaineers (N=10) andultra-distance runners (N=8). Participants also completed the Athletic Skills andCoping Inventory for Sport questionnaire (ASCI-28; Smith et al., 1995). Inaddition, a case study was adopted to investigate the effectiveness of specificcoping tools and test the accuracy of the coping model. Findings: Stressorsemerged from personal (e.g., fear), organisational (e.g., social support) andcompetitive (e.g., opponents) sources, supporting past literature (e.g., Fletcher &Sarkar, 2012). Coping emerged from emotion (e.g., self-talk), approach (e.g.,imagery), problem (e.g., goal setting) and appraisal (e.g., self-deception) basedapproaches. Stressors were linked to specific, effective coping mechanisms, andthe benefits of contemporary coping mechanisms, such as mindfulness andmeditation, were illuminated. The value of the coping framework for enduranceathletes was verified. Recommendations for future research include furtherexploration into mindfulness as an effective coping mechanism for enduranceathletes.

Date of Award	Jan 2015
Original language	English
Supervisor	L.A. Sharp (Supervisor) & Eric Wallace (Supervisor)