Mental Well-Being or Ill-Being through Coaching in Adult Grassroots Sport: A Systematic Mapping Review

María Rato Barrio, Clemens Ley, Anne Schomöller and Detlef Dumon
Additional contact information
María Rato Barrio: International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE/CIEPSS), 14053 Berlin, Germany
Clemens Ley: Institute of Sport Science, University of Vienna, 1150 Vienna, Austria
Anne Schomöller: International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE/CIEPSS), 14053 Berlin, Germany
Detlef Dumon: International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE/CIEPSS), 14053 Berlin, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: There is convincing evidence on the effects of sport and exercise on mental health and well-being. Less evidence is provided about how to achieve these benefits in the context of grassroots sport coaching. We systematically reviewed the scientific literature of three databases to narratively synthesize the current knowledge about which coaching-related factors influence well-being or ill-being, and how to promote mental health in adult athletes through sport coaches. The review includes 52 studies with different methodological and theoretical approaches and mental health outcomes. The wide range of themes were mapped and synthesized within two clusters, i.e., coaching behavior, antecedents, and context; and coach–athlete relationship and social support. The results highlight the importance of the promotion of empowering environments, autonomy-supportive coaching behavior, and coach–athlete relationship quality that relate to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. The review also calls for a critical perspective, in the sense that the coaching context and working environment may not be empowering and supportive to the well-being of coaches and consequently to the athletes, and that coaches who want to provide autonomy-supportive environments may face various obstacles. Finally, the review synthesizes recommendations for the training of coaches, as one piece of a holistic mental health promotion.

Keywords: mental health; coaching behavior; coach–athlete relationship; trainer; self-determination; health promotion; autonomy support; needs; grassroots; participation coach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6543/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/12/6543/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:12:p:6543-:d:576884

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().