Introduction: COVID-19 and the restrictions during this period have negative effects on mental health of individuals.One of the areas affected within the framework of restrictions is sports.Athletes’ve faced significant changes in their lifestyles, relationships; economy as well as professional goals.They trained in limited days/times, or not at all; couldn’t participate in national or international races/matches and experienced motivational loss.Studies show that uncertainty about sports practices, stressful restrictions and worries about returning to competitions increase the anxiety of athletes and impair their motivation[1],[2].Among the psychological effects of restrictions, isolation/quarantine are fear, irritability, insomnia, decrease in performance and burnout. Surprisingly, studies demonstrate that burnout and other mental problems in athletes are often neglected and inadequately treated.To our knowledge, the number of studies related to the mental effects and burnout of athletes due to COVID-19 is limited.We aimed to examine the changes in the sports lives of professional athletes in Turkey due to the pandemic and the relationship between the COVID-19 fear and the levels of depression, stress, anxiety and burnout.
Method: Participants were divided into two groups as professional athletes and those who do sports for healthy life(HL). Athletes were then divided into two subgroups as Individual Sports(IS) and Team Sports(TS).Sociodemographic information was obtained using a questionnaire.Participants were assessed with Fear of COVID-19 Scale(FCV-19S),Athlete Burnout Questionnaire(ABQ) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21(DASS-21).In addition, they were asked number of questions regarding their training/exercise program, motivation and performance.T-test,Pearson correlation and ANCOVA were performed. p<0.05 was accepted for significance.Study was conducted between April 2021-January 2022.
Results: 173 people participated in the study;IS=32.4%,TS=29.5% and HL=38.1%.The mean ages of IS,TS and HL were 22.05±5.25, 20.69±5.6 and 26.05±9.15, respectively. No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of psychiatric or chronic medical illness.Rate of COVID-19 diagnosis was highest in TS(X2: 6.685, p=0.035).IS reported decrease in duration or frequency of training/exercise programs, more than TS and HL(X2: 7.637, p=0.022). Also IS’s interpretation about their risk of contracting COVID-19 due to their branch of sports was higher than other two groups(X2: 23.354, p<0.01).We found positive correlations between FCV-19S and ABQ total and subscale scores(r=0.347,p<0.001; r=0.365,p<0.001; r=0.229,p<0.01; r=0.257,p<0.01, respectively) and DASS-21 total and subscale scores(r=0.283,p<0.001; r=0.184,p<0.05; r= 0.396,p<0.001; r=0.283,p<0.00, respectively).There was no difference between the groups in FCV-19S scores(F=1.494,p=0.227).Emotional exhaustion scores of TS were lower than IS(F=4.329,p=0.015);sense of accomplishment scores of TS were lower than both IS and HL(F=8.315,p<0.01);total burnout scores of TS were lower than IS(F=5.908,p<0.01); depression scores of TS were lower than IS and HL(F=8.262,p<0.01); anxiety scores of TS were lower than IS group(F=5.372, p<0.01); stress scores of TS were lower IS and HL (F=10.975,p<0.01 ); total DASS-21 scores of TS were lower than IS and HL(F=8.992, p<0.01).
Conclusion: Compared to IS and HL,Participants in TS were found in better state regarding burnout, depression, anxiety and stress.Advantage in TS could be opportunities for peer support,closer social relations and sharing environment.The fact that IS reported decrease in their training/exercise programs more and they evaluated higher risk of contracting COVID19 due to their branch of sports may be reasons for higher rate of mental problems.
References
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No conflict of interest
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