Why the study?
Existing longitudinal research on athlete burnout has been limited to few timepoints or short intervals, failing to account for its chronic and complex nature over time.
This longitudinal study provides insight into the trajectories of burnout symptoms in Gaelic games athletes over 21 months, highlighting periods of risk to inform targeted interventions.
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No clinical data present; leaves open any application to athlete health research or practice.
Athlete burnout is conceptualized as an enduring multidimensional syndrome, and longitudinal research is essential to understanding its development over time. However, much of the existing work has been limited to a small number of timepoints (≤3) or short intervals between waves (≤3 weeks), which fail to account for the chronic and complex nature of the syndrome. This study aimed to address these limitations by tracking burnout in adult athletes at 6 timepoints over a 21-month period for the first time. Data from 207 Gaelic games athletes were included in latent growth analysis to compare burnout trajectories of increasing complexity. A linear model best described all burnout symptoms. On average over the 21-month period, feelings of exhaustion declined, sport devaluation increased, and reduced accomplishment remained stable. Findings provide important insight into potential high-risk periods in the season and can help to inform targeted intervention or prevention efforts.
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Woods et al. (2024) studied this question.
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