Why the study?
Reports suggested athletes were seeking mental health support amid isolation, motivating an evaluation of the evidence regarding coronavirus pandemic effects on occupational stress in professional athletes.
Does the coronavirus pandemic affect occupational stress, depression, anxiety, and stress in professional athletes?
Does the coronavirus pandemic affect occupational stress, depression, anxiety, and stress in professional athletes?
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the mental health and well-being of professional athletes, highlighting the need for targeted psychosocial support and occupational therapy.
Supports psychosocial aid integration for athletes during crises; extends limited evidence but remains hypothesis-generating pending interventional trials.
Background: The ongoing global pandemic has become the world's leading health problem, causing massive public fear and concern. Reports suggest that athletes are seeking mental health support, showing the pressures of boredom, and tension associated with their anticipated social isolation. The current study seeks to evaluate the evidence regarding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on occupational stress in professional athletes. Method: A scoping review was conducted. A comprehensive search involving Embase and PubMed databases was conducted using a combination of the following key words: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, and athletes. In this study, articles were retained if they were original studies reporting on the impact of the pandemic on professional athletes. Results: Nine studies were identified as they investigated the impact of the pandemic on athletes. Most were observational and cross-sectional, and one was longitudinal. Outcome measures mainly investigated were level of depression, anxiety, and stress. Dependent variables were physical activity, nutrition, mental state, sleep quality, individual well-being, social identity, exclusivity, negative affectivity, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, and gambling habits. Conclusions: This review highlights the need for proactive engagement with professional athletes, coaches, trainers, and sports councils to facilitate understanding and awareness-raising, process optimization, and delivery of consistent training and psychosocial aid and occupational therapy programs that maintain the health and well-being of athletes while minimizing occupational stress during a pandemic.
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Haan et al. (2021) studied this question.
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