Edited by: Judy Van Raalte, Springfield College, United States
Reviewed by: Selenia Di Fronso, University of Studies G. d’Annunzio Chieti and Pescara, Italy; Jana Fogaca, California State University, Long Beach, United States
†These authors share first authorship
This article was submitted to Movement Science and Sport Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
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.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also called a crisis of uncertainty because of so many unforeseeable events like canceled qualification competitions, loss of training facilities, and postponement of the Olympic games. Athletes and their entourage experience this uncertainty as stressful. Sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) are in a key position to support athletes in coping with these unforeseeable stressors. However, SPPs are similarly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and simultaneously have to cope with stress. Salutogenesis, which describes how to manage stress and to stay well, provides a theoretical approach to how to cope with uncertainty. The salutogenetic approach aims at strengthening individuals’ sense of coherence (SoC) and consists of three components, namely comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. Although it is known that the SoC can be enhanced
香京julia种子在线播放
For the first time in the history of the modern Olympic Games, the Olympics were postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The regular 4-year cycle was interrupted and impacted the systematic planning, controlling, and performing at a top level in elite sports. No one had anticipated that an international health crisis would have such tremendous effects on the athletes and their entourage, such as the postponement of the Olympic Games, changes in scheduled qualification competitions, or limited training possibilities. The athlete’s support network is a combination of different stakeholders who provide support for peak performances in sports. Athletes play a central role in this network because they are the performers; however, they are surrounded by a large staff network [e.g., coaches and sport psychology practitioners (SPP)] who support them in achieving their peak performance. During COVID-19, it has become even more important to support athletes and especially also to reduce the effects of uncertainty. This support can, for example, help foster athletes’ identities and help manage their careers (
In peak performance sports, the athlete’s support network tries to anticipate and plan everything as intricately as possible, e.g., with training logs, season planning, specialized nutrition, etc. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shows that very little can be planned or controlled, which increases the vulnerability of athletes’ physical and mental well-being (
SPPs play an important role in the athlete’s support network to improve the mental health of others—mainly athletes (
In salutogenesis, stressors, such as unforeseen events, might imbalance the continuum of well-being and ill-being (
The SoC defines an individuals’ world view as an extensive but flexible confidence to cope with stressors. In other words, an individual with a high SoC is confident that life itself makes sense, is good, and that even though challenges and problems occur, they can be handled. The SoC consists of three components (
The salutogenesis model: the sense of coherence helps the individual to balance the stress caused by uncertainty
Individuals that have high comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness are very resourceful in seeking out coping strategies. Such strategies could include seeking out valid news sources (comprehensibility), employing successful time management (manageability), or feeling social belonging and support (meaningfulness). The stronger the SoC, the more likely it is to stay resilient (
During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes are confronted with different concrete stressors that they need to cope with. A strong SoC supports athletes and their entourage in order to maintain equilibrium. This equilibrium can be visualized as a scale that ranges from uncertainty due to unforeseeable stressors to successful coping (see
In these times, however, it seems difficult to assess uncertainty as a comprehensive, manageable stressor that can be accepted as a meaningful challenge by athletes and their entourage. An uncertain future infiltrates comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness to various extents: the uncertainty regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of sports seems to be incomprehensible since its determinants and consequences are unpredictable. By that, it is difficult to find a structure of uncertainty when its determinants remain unclear or when knowledge about COVID-19 changes rapidly due to the ongoing publication of new research results. Finally, uncertainty seems to be unpredictable
Especially in critical times of an athletic career, research shows that a strong SoC is associated with many benefits. Generally, a higher SoC in elite athletes correlates with more positively developed mental skills (
Overall, although the SoC is seen as a stable construct, research indicates that highly stressful events such as the COVID-19 pandemic may decrease the SoC, as has been shown for other destabilizing life situations (
In the following, we illustrate coaching techniques aimed at strengthening the SoC in the athletes support network (i.e., SPPs and coaches) during the COVID-19 pandemic. SPPs play a key role in providing psychological support to athletes and also to all other members of the athlete’s support network. At the same time, the SPP is also challenged by the effects of the pandemic. Therefore, our intervention focuses, first of all, on strengthening the SPPs’ SoC so that they, in a second step, can help reinforce and develop their athletes’ SoC.
The aim of the workshop for SPPs is to enhance their SoC by strengthening their feelings of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. This workshop aims at helping them to cope with the unforeseen they experience during the pandemic. Once SPPs have strengthened their SoC, they are better equipped to cope with unforeseen events and can also transfer their knowledge to help athletes and their support network to deal with uncertainty.
The workshop “Coping with Uncertainty” is designed as a 1-day workshop and can be conducted either online or in person. The workshop should be conducted by SPPs with an expertise in salutogenetic approaches. After attending the workshop, participants should be able to conduct their own workshops on SoC with their athletes and the athlete support network.
One might not have the choice of whether to teach the workshop online or in-person, and the format might also have to change at the last minute during the pandemic. In general, online workshops need more preparation time, sometimes face technical difficulties (e.g., poor Internet connection), and have motivational challenges (
Digital workshop software, such as Zoom, Skype, or BigBlueButton, can be used to conduct the workshop. However, one should be aware that, in some cases, only a professional or licensed version provides access to all of the tools’ features. The tool should be able to subdivide the group into different smaller groups (e.g., breakout rooms or breakout sessions) and provide features, such as whiteboard or shared notes. Furthermore, the tool should enable conducting little surveys. These surveys are useful for assessing the explicit learning objectives and for enhancing the participants’ motivation. It is recommended to thoroughly test the selected tool prior to the workshop both from the role as presenter and the role of participant.
Be sure to conduct a technology check for all participants at least 15 min before the workshop starts so that the participants can become familiar with the online tool and can check their cameras and microphones. We also recommend setting up a few rules regarding manner and communication during online workshops. We suggest the following rules as examples:
Mute your microphone when you are not speaking.
Diminish background noises and mute your mobile phone.
Speak loudly, more clearly, and more slowly than usual.
Do not use the keyboard when unmuted.
Use the chat to ask questions or to communicate.
During online workshops, it is recommended to monitor the chat box regularly to ensure that every participant has the opportunity to respond to the presenter’s statements. We also recommend employing additional digital tools during the workshop, like word cloud or mind map tools, to enhance the participants’ motivation. However, it is advisable to only use a limited number of different additional tools.
After the workshop, we suggest leaving the workshop room open for an additional 20 min so that the participants can talk afterward.
In-person workshops foster personal interactions; yet, in times of a pandemic, it is important to pay attention to strict hygiene rules and the obligatory policies aimed at preventing infections. It is, therefore, necessary that you clarify which hygienic standards (e.g., air ventilation, regular disinfecting, and distance between participants) need to be adhered to during the workshop.
In an in-person workshop, it is important to create a communicative space and room for interactions between the workshop participants. Therefore, we recommend setting up several work spaces for single-participant exercises or discussions in smaller groups. Before the workshop starts, participants should have the opportunity to get to know the workshop environment, which can be supported by having some extra welcome time prior to the start of the workshop. Providing snacks and drinks can create a comfortable atmosphere if the hygiene rules allow this.
Furthermore, communication rules should be discussed at the beginning of the workshop. We suggest the following rules as examples:
Switch off all mobile phones.
Interference first: Barriers that limit the participants’ focus should be addressed.
Ask for clarifications, if something is unclear.
Take notes for raising open questions that could be answered at the end of the workshop.
Clarify feedback rules.
Present the rules for how to give feedback.
In-person workshops benefit from using a variety of didactical methods (i.e., single-participant exercises, discussions in smaller groups, and role play) and materials (i.e., flip charts, whiteboards, and moderation cards). A good balance between different didactical methods and a focus on the workshop’s goals should be kept to ensure that the materials fit the workshop activities.
At the end of an in-person workshop, it is helpful to allow extra time for additional or individual questions or personal consultations.
The target group are SPPs with an interest in applying new approaches. We expect the participants to be familiar and to follow professional ethical standards (e.g., European Federation of Sport Psychology)
This workshop’s aim was to contribute to participants’ explicit and implicit learning processes. Explicit learning refers to learning the actual content (e.g., knowledge and know-how), whereas implicit processes are how content is related to individual perceptions (e.g., experiences, evaluations, meaning, and emotions). Both processes interrelate and support achieving the twofold aim of this workshop (i.e., SoC development in SPPs and transfer to the athlete’s support network). Thus, we define explicit learning (el) objectives to describe what SPPs will know and which skills they will have acquired after attending the workshop. We define implicit learning (il) objectives to describe participants’ ability to reflect on their experiences, values, meaning, and emotions regarding the workshop content.
Explicit learning objectives are as follows:
SPPs are able to
describe and define the salutogenetic approach.
identify SoC’s relevance for health promotion and performance enhancement.
differentiate between the three SoC components.
identify strategies that can be applied to strengthen the SoC components.
check and evaluate psychological counseling guidelines and strategies (e.g.,
develop coping strategies based on the salutogenetic approach.
identify and explain differences in coping strategies according to the SoC components.
apply the developed strategies to the elite sport setting.
put themselves in the place of the athlete/the learner and to consider different barriers during the learning process.
Implicit learning objectives are the following:
SPPs are able to
reflect on their own situation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
reflect on their own emotional reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
empathize with participants’ emotions and affective states.
reflect on their own experienced strategies and their effectiveness according to the salutogenetic approach (backspin to introduce self-reflection).
reflect on their emotional reactions and evaluate different coping strategies.
The following preparation is needed to conduct the workshop:
We suggest preparing slides or handouts (see
Participants are provided with a compendium of guidelines and best practices published by sport psychology organizations during the pandemic. This compendium provides a basic collection of possible salutogenetic approaches that can be applied in their sport psychology practice.
Additional materials to prepare for the workshop parts are:
Papers.
Pencils.
Highlighters.
Index cards.
Flip chart marker.
Flip chart paper.
Strips (to attach flip charts and sorting cards to a wall).
Different didactical approaches and organizational forms can be applied in order to ensure that the learning objectives are achieved. The suggested didactical approaches and organizational forms are related to a salutogenetic education (
Individual self-reflection about coping during the pandemic.
Silent reflections on mind maps regarding experiences and coping with uncertainty.
Lectures about the theory of salutogenesis and related research.
Brainstorming with the entire group or in small groups, e.g., to collect coping strategies that are based on the salutogenetic model.
Exercises in small groups, especially evaluation of sport psychological guidelines and strategies developed for the pandemic (e.g.,
Group reflections/flashlights to recapitulate workshop content.
Group discussions about potentials and barriers of a salutogenetic approach in sport psychology.
Role plays to apply coping strategies in sport psychological practice.
The workshop comprised four parts:
Knowledge acquisition.
Knowledge transfer.
Knowledge application.
Perspective taking.
In the first part, the workshop leaders present the workshop’s basic theoretical foundation, namely Antonovsky’s model of salutogenesis, and provides a short research overview of similar research on possible crises of uncertainty (e.g.,
The workshop should initiate a process of brainstorming and the discussion of different approaches that could be used in sport psychology practice or that could be applied by athletes and their entourage to foster their SoC to cope with uncertainty.
Collection of sense of coherence (SoC) enhancing resources for sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) when coping with uncertainty.
SoC components | Enhancement by following resources | Example |
Comprehensibility | ||
Information and explanation | Retrieving information from sources of high credibilitya Regular communication with others (e.g., team mates and coaches) | |
Cognitive approaches | Keeping the domestic environment well organized (hygiene, food, fresh air, etc.) supports an athletic lifestyle.a Domestic training might be boring: Brainstorming ideas to keep training at home interesting (e.g., watching TV shows and virtual challenges with team mates)a Regularly repeated psychoeducation to achieve a mental health literacy within the athlete’s support networkb | |
Planning and goal setting | Adapting the timetable, not the goalsc Setting time slots when to search for information to avoid being overwhelmed by information about the pandemica Keeping physical training constant during COVID-19 limitations; adaptation of training routines to limitations by training professionalsd Developing strategies to reduce too much calorie consumption during a lockdown/training limitationsd | |
Paradoxical intervention | Juxtaposing best- and worst-case scenarios | |
Manageability | Improving self-efficacy | Developing strategies to incorporate authorities’ restrictions into training and daily lifea Teaching relaxation techniquesa,b |
Self-reflection | Exploration of what keeps athletes effective and disciplined in traininga Using self-reflection on strategies that helped you in the past to trigger a pleasant statea Keeping an athletic lifestyle! Relying on all routines, diets, etc., as they still are important and effective to stay healthy, fit, and ready for performancea Technique of circular questioning | |
Social networking for support and help | Offering social support and informing when to ask and who to ask for helpa Connecting with the athlete’s support network to achieve help to manage upcoming challengesb,d Creating of a professional mental health support networkb Including family and friends in the social–emotional support networkb | |
Meaningfulness | Satisfaction of needs and motives | Investing time into the neglected but important things that support their goal achievementc |
Impact on the athlete’s support network | Trusting in and relating to your social network. You need them; they need you.a Sharing your successful coping strategies with others (in the athlete’s support network). Relating actively to thema Creating a safe environment (social and spatial) where it is accepted to declare mental challengesb Developing a mental health policyb Finding spokespersons for mental health in athletesb | |
Optimism and positivism | Gratitude exercises and mindfulness-based exercises |
During the workshop, SPPs can discuss and develop approaches to enhance comprehensibility by strengthening resources that influence individuals’ world views as explicable, structured, and predictable (see
SPPs elaborate approaches of manageability to build individuals’ trust in their coping strategies (i.e., resource-oriented coaching approach). Here, the workshop may focus on techniques to improve self-efficacy, self-reflection, social support, and volitional processes. Self-efficacy can be fostered by teaching techniques to adjust affective states or by successfully overcoming training barriers (e.g., integrating governmental restrictions of social distancing into daily training). Self-reflection can enhance self-efficacy, for example by thinking of challenging situations in the past in which successful coping was implemented and how these coping strategies that were successful in the past can be adapted to the current situation.
Meaningfulness can be defined as accepting the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic as an entirely new challenge for training and competition. Thus, SPPs should focus on holistic approaches when supporting athletes in the challenge to cope with uncertainty. This could be achieved by satisfying individual needs or by creating a supportive social network in which athletes and members of the athlete’s entourage take responsibility for each other. Additionally, investing in mindfulness practice can help individuals to accept the current situation (e.g., mindfulness-based exercises and mindfulness–acceptance–commitment theory; see
These examples are not a complete list, but give an idea of how SPPs can support athletes and their entourage to enhance comprehensiveness, manageability, and meaningfulness when having to cope with uncertainty (see
The third part focuses on knowledge application, during which participants actively apply their new knowledge, for example in role plays, and then discuss possible obstacles they might encounter. In the last part, the participants are asked to reflect on their acquired knowledge and the implicit learning processes that took place during the workshop. The workshop ends with an evaluation of its content and execution and the effect it had on the participants’ SoC. Please see
Workshop procedure: schedule, learning objectives, content, didactical methods, and material.
Welcome and introduction | Individual self-reflection about coping during the pandemic Silent reflections on mind maps regarding experiences and coping with uncertainty | |
Knowledge acquisition | Lectures about the theory of salutogenesis and related research | |
Knowledge transfer | Exercises in small groups, especially evaluations of psychological counseling guidelines and strategies | |
Knowledge application | Brainstorming with the entire group or in small groups, e.g., to collect coping strategies according to salutogenesis Exercises in small groups, especially development of further coping strategies Group discussions about potentials and barriers of a salutogenetic approach in sport psychology | |
Perspective taking | Role plays to apply coping strategies in sport psychological practice Silent reflections on mind maps regarding experiences and coping with uncertainty | |
Conclusion | Group reflections/flashlights to recapitulate workshop parts |
The workshop is designed in such a way that it simultaneously addresses and achieves the two goals of (1) strengthening SPPs’ SoC and (2) empowering SPPs’ to strengthen their athletes’ SoC. This goal is achieved by dividing the workshop into four parts. The first three parts aim at teaching SPPs not only about the salutogenetic theory but also how to apply it in practice and which obstacles they might encounter. The first three parts (i.e., knowledge acquisition, knowledge transfer, and knowledge application) target SPPs’ comprehensiveness and manageability skills. The last part (i.e., change of perspective) aims at strengthening meaningfulness. By changing perspective, SPPs can identify how meaningful the approach is and also how meaningful it could be for the athletes and their support network in dealing with uncertainty.
According to
During the four-part workshop, we follow a salutogenetic–educational approach (
The present workshop was conceptualized with already existing sport psychological techniques, and the goal was to rearrange them based on the theoretical framework of salutogenesis. The workshop achieves a twofold educational and psychological aim: on the one hand, workshop participants learn and develop sport psychological approaches they can apply when working with athletes (educational aim). On the other hand, participants develop and reinforce their own SoC (psychological aim). To test whether this twofold aim is successful, we conducted and evaluated a workshop. The target group of the workshop were volleyball coaches and not SPPs. This target group is also highly important for athletes’ welfare and, in addition, also in need of support when major sporting events occur (e.g., 1980s Olympic boycott;
In a single-day online workshop,
Prior to the workshop, all participants were informed about the content and the goals of the workshop, as well as the evaluation process. Participants volunteered and accepted data assessment, analysis, and anonymous reporting after having received all information and before answering any evaluation questions.
To evaluate the workshop, its effect on SoC, as well as the perception of dealing with uncertainty, participants were asked to answer questionnaires before and after the workshop. For pre- and post-measurement, the questionnaire contained the Sense of Coherence—Leipziger short version (SoC-L9;
Before the workshop day, the participants were asked to fill out the evaluation questionnaire at pre-measurement. The workshop was adapted to the target group of sport coaches by omitting the fourth phase of the workshop “perspective taking.” Therefore, the workshop had three parts.
Knowledge acquisition: At the beginning, the participants were welcomed and asked to brainstorm current issues when thinking of uncertainty in everyday training. Then, an input session regarding salutogenesis followed.
Knowledge transfer: In a subsequent work phase, the volleyball coaches were asked to brainstorm what they are currently doing with their athletes to address the challenge of uncertainty in training and competition. A second input session regarding SoC enhancers then followed.
Knowledge application: In the third phase, the participants were asked to adapt enhancers of the prior work phase to their own training. Then, the participants discussed these enhancers with a colleague and shared what they want to achieve when interacting with their athletes with the entire group. Finally, the participants reflected on the workshop and were asked to answer the evaluation questionnaire for a second time.
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0.0. Data were checked for normality and outliers. Two outliers were detected and analyses were run with and without outliers. As the same pattern of results was present, we will report all analyses including outliers. After the descriptive statistics, a multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA) with repeated measures (pre and post) was calculated to test for changes in the dependent variables (comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness, resilience, perception of coping: uncertainty, valence, arousal, and stress).
Descriptive data of all the dependent variables are shown in
Descriptive statistics of the dependent variables from pre and post workshop, including univariate test results.
Comprehensibility | 5.44 (1.38) | 5.69 (1.44) | 0.537 | 0.023 |
Manageability | 5.93 (1.20) | 5.98 (0.82) | 0.841 | 0.002 |
Meaningfulness | 5.69 (0.82) | 6.00 (0.78) | 0.190 | 0.099 |
Resilience | 75.61 (7.68) | 77.28 (6.16) | 0.356 | 0.050 |
Uncertainty | 56.67 (35.60) | 68.94 (26.31) | 0.084 | 0.165 |
Valence | 63.61 (27.63) | 70.83 (25.17) | 0.314 | 0.059 |
Arousal | 66.17 (25.57) | 78.44 (16.08) | 0.048 | 0.210 |
Stress | 75.06 (17.60) | 77.11 (15.34) | 0.641 | 0.013 |
Participants rated the workshop quality on average 3.6 (out of 4, SD = 0.35) and rated the skills they acquired on average as 3 (out of 4, SD = 0.64). On average, the participants believe that they are very likely to use the learned tools in the near future (82%, SD = 24%).
Planning and conducting a workshop to empower one’s SoC in order to better deal with uncertainty in sport psychology practice also is self-help. It allows SPPs to not only empower their athletes but to also reflect on salutogenetic approaches that could be helpful in their own daily life and work. SPPs play a crucial role for athletes when they have to cope with challenging situations (e.g.,
Our workshop aims to support SPPs to better prepare for the 2021 Olympics and to better deal with the crisis of uncertainty. The more SPPs participate in workshops to enhance their SoC and to develop salutogenetic tools for their practical work, the more support for athletes to keep on track for Olympics 2021 and beyond can be provided. By that, we follow the idea of creating a mental health network for athletes and their entourage (
Hence, it is necessary to develop SoC-enhancing strategies for SPPs, athletes, coaches, and others to diminish the effects of uncertainty (
Considering salutogenesis as a valuable approach in sport psychology is rather new and advances the research field in two ways. First, the theory of salutogenesis can be integrated as an additional theoretical framework for investigating both peak performance and mental health within the elite athletic community under unforeseen conditions in a normally very planned and controlled environment. Unforeseen changes challenge athletes’ perceptions about being able to perform at a top level despite severe changes in their “normal” environment. In line with existing literature (e.g.,
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/
Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent from the participants was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.
SL and FL came up with the idea and conceptualization. NW and SL planned the workshop. FL and SL conducted and evaluated the workshop. SL wrote the first draft. SL, FL, and NW provided revisions. LK did the literature research and helped with formatting. A-ME proofread the manuscript, contributed to resources, language editing, and supervision. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: