Cargando…
Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes
The optimization of athletes’ wellbeing has been increasingly considered essential both in the academic and practical fields of high-performance sports. Various organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee, have highlighted its importance, particularly mental health. Moreover, the incr...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9609156/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36312079 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821893 |
_version_ | 1784818948843241472 |
---|---|
author | Noguchi, Yoriko Kuribayashi, Chisato Kinugasa, Taisuke |
author_facet | Noguchi, Yoriko Kuribayashi, Chisato Kinugasa, Taisuke |
author_sort | Noguchi, Yoriko |
collection | PubMed |
description | The optimization of athletes’ wellbeing has been increasingly considered essential both in the academic and practical fields of high-performance sports. Various organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee, have highlighted its importance, particularly mental health. Moreover, the increased attention to athlete wellbeing in sport policy debates at the national level has led to the development and implementation of a support system for athletes’ mental wellbeing in some countries. Nevertheless, the literature is limited to understanding the case of Japan. Interestingly, only 0.8% of the literature is available on “athlete” and “wellbeing” in Japanese compared to English journals up to 2019. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify (a) the current state of wellbeing of Japanese university student-athletes, (b) the level of knowledge about athlete wellbeing, and (c) the athletes’ perception of the availability of wellbeing support in the national sports federations, (d) the athlete experience of support services, and develop the types of national support athletes expect and need from the government and national sports federations in the future. As a pilot study, a total of 100 Japanese university student-athletes (43 male, 57 female) from 17 Olympic and seven Paralympic sports completed an online survey. Consequently, the state of their wellbeing was self-perceived as good in all dimensions (i.e., physical, mental, educational, organizational, social, and financial). Moreover, the results showed low recognition of the term “athlete wellbeing” and a lack of knowledge of the availability and accessibility of appropriate support services. The results also showed that Japanese university student-athletes rarely seek help from experts, while 45% indicated “no one” to talk to. Interestingly, however, most athletes considered each dimension of wellbeing important in relation to their performance development. Based on the results, it is necessary to develop an education program, guidelines, and detection systems and improve information accessibility. Given that this pilot study’s validity, reliability, and feasibility were verified, further studies should focus more on the wellbeing of Japanese elite athletes in high-performance sports (i.e., Olympic and Paralympic athletes). |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9609156 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-96091562022-10-28 Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes Noguchi, Yoriko Kuribayashi, Chisato Kinugasa, Taisuke Front Psychol Psychology The optimization of athletes’ wellbeing has been increasingly considered essential both in the academic and practical fields of high-performance sports. Various organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee, have highlighted its importance, particularly mental health. Moreover, the increased attention to athlete wellbeing in sport policy debates at the national level has led to the development and implementation of a support system for athletes’ mental wellbeing in some countries. Nevertheless, the literature is limited to understanding the case of Japan. Interestingly, only 0.8% of the literature is available on “athlete” and “wellbeing” in Japanese compared to English journals up to 2019. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify (a) the current state of wellbeing of Japanese university student-athletes, (b) the level of knowledge about athlete wellbeing, and (c) the athletes’ perception of the availability of wellbeing support in the national sports federations, (d) the athlete experience of support services, and develop the types of national support athletes expect and need from the government and national sports federations in the future. As a pilot study, a total of 100 Japanese university student-athletes (43 male, 57 female) from 17 Olympic and seven Paralympic sports completed an online survey. Consequently, the state of their wellbeing was self-perceived as good in all dimensions (i.e., physical, mental, educational, organizational, social, and financial). Moreover, the results showed low recognition of the term “athlete wellbeing” and a lack of knowledge of the availability and accessibility of appropriate support services. The results also showed that Japanese university student-athletes rarely seek help from experts, while 45% indicated “no one” to talk to. Interestingly, however, most athletes considered each dimension of wellbeing important in relation to their performance development. Based on the results, it is necessary to develop an education program, guidelines, and detection systems and improve information accessibility. Given that this pilot study’s validity, reliability, and feasibility were verified, further studies should focus more on the wellbeing of Japanese elite athletes in high-performance sports (i.e., Olympic and Paralympic athletes). Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9609156/ /pubmed/36312079 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821893 Text en Copyright © 2022 Noguchi, Kuribayashi and Kinugasa. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Noguchi, Yoriko Kuribayashi, Chisato Kinugasa, Taisuke Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title | Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title_full | Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title_fullStr | Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title_full_unstemmed | Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title_short | Current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in Japan: The perspectives of the university student-athletes |
title_sort | current state and the support system of athlete wellbeing in japan: the perspectives of the university student-athletes |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9609156/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36312079 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821893 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT noguchiyoriko currentstateandthesupportsystemofathletewellbeinginjapantheperspectivesoftheuniversitystudentathletes AT kuribayashichisato currentstateandthesupportsystemofathletewellbeinginjapantheperspectivesoftheuniversitystudentathletes AT kinugasataisuke currentstateandthesupportsystemofathletewellbeinginjapantheperspectivesoftheuniversitystudentathletes |