Health Care Assignment: Impact Of Psychological Health On Young Players
Question
Task:
Prepare a health case assignment exploring how mental health affects young players in the professional footballing world.
Answer
Introduction
It is stated in the present context of health care assignment that health issues have been one of the most critical aspects of sports that have impacted it in various ways. Among all the kind of health issues one of the most detrimental health related problem seen among sports people is mental health problem. World Health Organization has raised a need to better define mental health in sports to help understand its importance (Küttel and Larsen 2020). According to Henriksen et al. (2020) mental health is defined as a level of well-being in a person when he or she realizes the stress level in them and the extent to which they can positively contribute to the community. In the article, MacInnes (2021) has stated that in 2020 about 464 members of the professional footballer’s association has taken counselling services in the world. Moreover, there are two types of mental health symptoms available among athletes such as 19% of them show alcohol misuse and 34% show anxiety depression. Further, there are other symptoms of mental illness seen among elite athletes such as 16% of them face distress and 26% showed anxiety or depression (Gouttebarge et al. 2019). On the contrary Malm et al. (2019) has argued that sports help in adding positive effects on the mental and personal development of the person due to increased physical activity. There is some risk of physical damage such as hurt, injury, eating disorder and others, however, mental health benefits stem from active sports participation. This is because physical activity associated with sports has some positive effects on alleviating mental illness such as depression and anxiety and thus improves their performance and participation. This shows that there is a close connection between sports and mental disorder.
Rationale for the Research
Mental illness among sports is created from several negative and positive factors that creates mental blocks among the sportsperson and breaks the focus on preparation, understanding and performance in them. They can also lead to various kinds of other physical injuries and health problems (Malm et al. 2019). Among young football plays it is seen that the mental health such as mental issues can lead to adverse alcohol consumption, anxiety, depression and even incidence. However, Burns (2015) has argued that determining the burden of mental health in sports is difficult because mental health problems comes from number of risk factors. Thus, the mental health has significant impact in sports, especially among football players where the need of seeking help increases among players. Henriksen et al. (2020) has further pointed out that mental disorders are common in footballers and this has negative impact on their performance due to poor concentration, focus, emotion, inability to coordinate and lack of endurance. Such important role that mental health has played in sports, especially in football has made it important to learn the impact that it has on the young players in professional football. The impact of mental health on young footballers is still not clear to large extent and this research will enable young professional footballers to learn about the importance of mental health for the players in football world. Moreover, the research will also help the young footballers to learn the importance of timely intervention to effectively deal with the effect of mental health and the way to avoid the incidence prevailing from mental health problems.
Literature Review
Key Themes
Role of Sports on Health of a Person
Malm et al. (2019) has pointed out that sports have always been considered as a double edge sword in relation to effects on health. This means that it has both positive effects and negative effects. Sports has positive effects on the well-being of the sportsperson because the physical activity associated with sports helps in creating huge health benefits such as mental development among both young and old sports people. Moreover, the people associated with sports is seen to reduce consumption of alcohol and indulge in healthy nutrition, exercise and healthy well-being. However, Logue et al. (2018) has stated that sports also have negative impact on the sportsperson such as poor mental health, risk of injury, eating disorders and others. this is because there is risk of failure in sports that make people go under mental distress. Mental health plays an integral part in sports because it is affecting huge sports person all across the world (Poucher et al. 2021). This is because sportsperson is seen to face huge headache, stress, fatigues and anxiety and this has an impact on their activities and sports performance. Burns (2015) has argued that sports are seen to have huge negative impact on sportsperson than positive impact. They disturb the overall life routine of the people because of practice and training schedule. The players face huge disturbances in their eating patterns and the way they live. Moreover, the players also face failure and lack of stress during practice and in turn leads to poor physical and mental health. Burns (2015) has further pointed out that mental disabilities have negative impact on the performance and outcomes in sports. This means that the performance of a mental disable person will not match with the performance of the elite performance. Such impacts and relation are seen in every kind of sports including indoor and outdoor sports.
Affect of Mental Factors on Sportsperson
There have been various researches on the way mental health and psychological factors affect the players in sports and this in turn has an impact on their performance. According to Bali (2015), there are number of various psychological factors that affect the sports players and their performance level such as stress, anxiety, tension and aggression. Stress is inevitable in sport and sports players perform their tasks with varying level of stress that determine their mental health. The previous research will help in learning that mental health of players can lead to exhaustion and ill health in them and clearly show the impact of mental health in sports. Likewise, Küttel and Larsen (2020) has pointed out that anxiety also has negative impact on players because with anxiety the players find it difficult to concentrate in the game due to constant bombardment high level of tension. The article made use of the findings of International Conferences and seminars on sport and past work of scholars to analyze the effect of mental health on players. The article is important in recent proposed study in understanding the impact of mental health on sports players. However, the paper has failed to show the positive affect of mental anxiety on their games. Henriksen et al. (2020) has argued that stress also has positive effects on the players because it increases pressure and demands that in turn leads to higher performance. For example, players under stress can help player to performance faster and better because of the pressure. The instance and positive effect of mental health on players is not true in all instances because mental illness at uncontrollable and unmanageable level can creates drastic decrease in performance level. For example, at the time of very tight and high target line the players tend to performance poorly under pressure due to high burnout. Past researches and literature are used for findings the positive affect of mental stress on players. The findings are important for present topic because it will help learn about positive impact of mental health on players in sports.
Barnes (2014) has pointed out that male athletes usually go under sever alcohol consumption due to mental stress they face in sports and this impacts their performance. Excess intake of alcohol by sports person due to stress lead to impairment of strength, power, muscular endurance, speed and vascular endurance. It is seen that with poor mental conditions sports person go under alcohol consumption and causes detrimental effect on heart rate and muscle blood flow and this will make it difficult for players to perform with best of their energy. The article made use of literature search to investigate the pattern of drinking habits among athletes due to mental stress and its impact on players. The findings are important in research to learn the relation between mental health and performance in sports players. Likewise, Chang et al. (2020) has pointed out that the sports players face number of mental issues in games due to cultural and environmental factors such as hazing, bullying and others. such kind factors have negative affect on mental health of players in sports such as depression, stress, anxiety, suicide and eating disorder. This in turn leads to poor performance of the players due to poor mental ability to think and perform. The paper made use of writing group for in-depth analysis of literature. The outcome is useful for the recent study because it will help in determining the kind of mental impact players face in sports.
Similarly, Donohue et al. (2018) has stated in the findings that athletes experience unique stressors that reduces their mental wellness and performance in sports. However, there are lower mental health related interventions for sports person to help them improve their performance. The article made use of primary research and conducted survey among 74 collegiate athletes and experimental design to analyze the result. The result is useful for the recent study because it helps in understanding the way the impact of mental health on sports players can be improved.
Mental Health and Football Players
According to Gouttebarge et al. (2015) the mental health of players negatively affects the football players because the professional footballers are seen to face severe injuries in games that creates psychosocial stressors in them. In current players the mental health problems that are significant among footballers are burnout, anxiety, anxiety and depression. The paper made use of electronic questionnaire to collect data from professional footballers and used cross sectional to analyze the data gathered. The result of the article is helpful for the current study because it will enable in understanding the kind of mental problem that professional footballers are facing. Similarly, Heun and Pringle (2018) pointed out that football does not improve mental health and causes mental health disorders. The mental health has significant impact on the players of the professional footballer by lowering their confidence and ability to invest their energy and strategies in games and even leads to high profile suicides in players. This is because players face both success and failures in games. Continuous success followed by loss cause distress and negative affect on the footballers. Moreover, high mental stress and anxiety is also seen to cause risk of injury among the players. The paper made use of search strategy to collect information on the study. The research outcome is significant in the preset search because it will help in knowing the way footballers get affected negatively. According to Wood et al. (2017), male professional footballers are at a high risk of developing mental health problems due to lack of professional support. Footballers faces high impact on their mental conditions due to number of reasons such as shame, stigma, fear and others. mental health negatively affects players in footballers such as depression and this has increased the barriers for help-seeking. The paper made use of qualitative research design to collect data based on themes from seven male footballers. The result is significant for the current study because it helps in understanding the kind of mental health footballers face.
Summary
From the literature it is evident that professional footballers face number of mental health problems that has negative impact on their performance. However, some researches have also claimed that negative mental health of players also has positive impact on their game.
Gaps in Literature
Even though past works of literature has effectively researched into the kind of negative and positive mental health faced by players in different sports and the impact it has on performance, however, the literature still lacks the way negative and positive mental health affects the players in professional football world. Thus, the present research will help in filling this gap in literature by understanding the kind of impact different mental health conditions have on the players.
Aims
The aim of the research is to examine the way all kinds of mental health affects the players of professional football world.
Methodology
The research will make use of mixed research design to approach the investigation by making use of both primary and secondary data collection method (Williams et al. 2017). Under primary research the researcher will collect data from 20 professional footballers through electronic survey using online questionnaires. The professional footballers will be recruited through regional football clubs where the questionnaire will be shared through emails to be filled by 20 professional players. The duration of the survey will be approximately fifteen minutes acknowledging the busy schedule of the footballers. The questions for the survey will be formed using the results of past researches. The paper will make use of simple random sampling to choose the sample from large population of footballers. Moreover, in relation to secondary search the researcher will review past works of literature and gather related evidences. The paper will make use of inductive research approach where the major aim of the researcher will be to induce data directly from the source that is professional footballers. The paper will also align primary findings with secondary research or findings of part researchers.
Further, the researcher will make use of qualitative research method to analyze the result of the survey through descriptive design. The responses of the survey will be presented using statistical tools such as bar charts for effective understanding (Queirós et al. 2017). The paper will make use of grounded theory to conduct qualitative research where different factors in the data will be grouped to lead to final result such as types of mental health faced among footballers and the kind of impact they are facing on their games.
The participants of the research will be professional footballs. Thus, the research will follow certain ethical protocols when forming the questionnaire and choosing the participants for interview such as confidentiality, anonymity, integrity and informed consent from the participants when conducting the survey with the electronic survey.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be stated that the proposed research will help in knowing the kind of impact mental health condition has on the professional footballers including both positive and negative impact. Moreover, the paper will make close analysis of both primary and secondary data to reach accurate and effective research outcome.
References
Bali, A., 2015. Psychological factors affecting sports performance. International Journal of Physical Education, Sports and Health, 1(6), pp.92-95.
Barnes, M.J., 2014. Alcohol: impact on sports performance and recovery in male athletes. Sports Medicine, 44(7), pp.909-919.
Burns, J., 2015. The impact of intellectual disabilities on elite sports performance. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 8(1), pp.251-267.
Chang, C., Putukian, M., Aerni, G., Diamond, A., Hong, G., Ingram, Y., Reardon, C.L. and Wolanin, A., 2020. Mental health issues and psychological factors in athletes: detection, management, effect on performance and prevention: American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement—Executive Summary. British journal of sports medicine, 54(4), pp.216-220.
Donohue, B., Gavrilova, Y., Galante, M., Gavrilova, E., Loughran, T., Scott, J., Chow, G., Plant, C.P. and Allen, D.N., 2018. Controlled evaluation of an optimization approach to mental health and sport performance. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 12(2), pp.234-267.
Gouttebarge, V., Castaldelli-Maia, J.M., Gorczynski, P., Hainline, B., Hitchcock, M.E., Kerkhoffs, G.M., Rice, S.M. and Reardon, C.L., 2019. Occurrence of mental health symptoms and disorders in current and former elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(11), pp.700-706.
Gouttebarge, V., Frings-Dresen, M.H.W. and Sluiter, J.K., 2015. Mental and psychosocial health among current and former professional footballers. Occupational medicine, 65(3), pp.190-196.
Henriksen, K., Schinke, R., Moesch, K., McCann, S., Parham, W.D., Larsen, C.H. and Terry, P., 2020. Consensus statement on improving the mental health of high performance athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18(5), pp.553-560.
Heun, R. and Pringle, A., 2018. Football does not improve mental health: a systematic review on football and mental health disorders. Global psychiatry, 1(1), pp.25-38.
Küttel, A. and Larsen, C.H., 2020. Risk and protective factors for mental health in elite athletes: a scoping review. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 13(1), pp.231-265.
Logue, D., Madigan, S.M., Delahunt, E., Heinen, M., Mc Donnell, S.J. and Corish, C.A., 2018. Low energy availability in athletes: a review of prevalence, dietary patterns, physiological health, and sports performance. Sports Medicine, 48(1), pp.73-96.
MacInnes, P., 2021. Increasing number of footballers concerned for their mental health. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
Malm, C., Jakobsson, J. and Isaksson, A., 2019. Physical activity and sports—real health benefits: a review with insight into the public health of Sweden. Sports, 7(5), p.127.
Poucher, Z.A., Tamminen, K.A., Kerr, G. and Cairney, J., 2021. A commentary on mental health research in elite sport. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 33(1), pp.60-82.
Queirós, A., Faria, D. and Almeida, F., 2017. Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies.
Williams, I., Harlock, J., Robert, G., Mannion, R., Brearley, S. and Hall, K., 2017. Decommissioning health care: identifying best practice through primary and secondary research: a prospective mixed-methods study. Health Services and Delivery Research, 5(22).
Wood, S., Harrison, L.K. and Kucharska, J., 2017. Male professional footballers’ experiences of mental health difficulties and help-seeking. The Physician and sportsmedicine, 45(2), pp.120-128.
