Enhancing the Well-Being of Elite Sport Performers Operating in High Performance Environments

在英国，大约有1300名运动员参加了世界级项目（英国体育，2018）。在全球范围内，世界运动员协会拥有超过85,000名运动员会员。运动员在复杂的组织结构中训练和比赛，这些组织结构有集体的道德和法律义务来保护运动员的福利（Giles, Fletcher, Arnold, Ashfield, & Harrison, 2020）。这种照顾的责任超越了运动员的身体健康，包括他们的精神和社会福祉，也许在精英水平的运动中最需要，在那里，对成功的永不满足的需求可能与平衡的生活方式相矛盾。体育学者、心理学家、实践者、组织和政策制定者越来越多地投入到支持优化运动员在精英运动中的健康和福祉的追求中，需要加强支撑他们工作的证据基础。我的博士研究与拉夫堡大学、巴斯大学和英国体育研究所合作，通过一系列研究调查了精英运动中运动员幸福感的本质及其测量。(1)提出了运动员幸福感测量的改进建议；(2)运动员幸福感模型；(3)运动员幸福感预测因子知识；(4)一种评估运动员幸福感的诊断工具。然而，在体育运动中缺乏与运动员福祉相关的有目的的干预措施，阻碍了体育部门的进步（例如Fletcher & Sarkar, 2016; Giles, 2021）。我提议的奖学金的目的是产生一种基于证据的方法来提高运动员在精英运动中的福祉。这将使我能够参加活动来巩固我的博士研究，建立一个发表记录，并建立自己在该领域的研究领导者。这将涉及：(1)发表高质量的研究文章，深入了解拉夫堡大学（Loughborough University）体育、运动和健康科学学院（School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences）及其他学院的顶尖学者如何提高运动员的健康水平；(2)与英国领先的研究机构（即巴斯大学和朴茨茅斯大学）建立合作伙伴关系，重点发表该领域的两篇重要综述文章；(3)通过拉夫堡大学与国际组织和协会网络（如体育与人权中心、国际足联、国际奥委会）的联系，与体育领域的主要利益相关者建立关系，分享研究成果，最大限度地发挥影响；(4)与全球体育界的国内和国际学者（如G Kerr教授、K Kauffman教授、K Mori教授、A Brady博士）和主要利益相关者（如国际足联、国际奥委会、国际安全运动、联合国儿童基金会、英联邦秘书处、世界运动员协会的代表）合作，开展一项试点研究，并开发一项大型资助申请，重点关注全球运动员的福祉；(5)组建专家咨询小组（影响小组），重点制定干预框架和最佳实践建议，并确定将研究成果传达给主要行业利益相关者和团体的途径；(6)在国内和国际会议上发表研究成果；(7)参加拉夫堡大学和国家研究方法中心的高质量培训研讨会，以提高我成功争取资助机会的能力。综上所述，拟议的奖学金活动和研究将巩固和扩展我的博士研究，使我能够成为运动员健康领域的研究领导者。值得注意的是，拟议的奖学金产出将对全球体育表演者的生活产生积极影响，并塑造体育如何将人——他们的安全、福祉和福利——置于体育活动的中心（gray - thompson, 2017）。

In the United Kingdom, approximately 1,300 athletes are enrolled in the World Class Programme (UK Sport, 2018). At a global level, the World Players Association union includes over 85,000 athlete members. Athletes train and compete within complex organisational structures that have a collective ethical and legal obligation to safeguard athletes' welfare (Giles, Fletcher, Arnold, Ashfield, & Harrison, 2020). This duty of care extends beyond athletes' physical health to include their mental and social well-being and is perhaps most needed in elite level sport, where an insatiable need for success can be at odds with living a balanced lifestyle. Sport scholars, psychologists, practitioners, organisations, and policy makers are increasingly invested in supporting the quest to optimise athletes' health and well-being in elite sport and there is a need to strengthen the evidence-base underpinning their work. Working collaboratively with Loughborough University, University of Bath, and the English Institute of Sport my doctoral research investigated the nature of athletes' well-being and its measurement in elite sport through a series of studies. These provided: (1) recommendations for progressing the measurement of athletes' well-being; (2) a model of athletes' well-being; (3) knowledge about the predictors of athletes' well-being; and (4) a diagnostic tool to assess well-being in athletes. Yet the lack of interventions purposefully developed in sport in relation to athletes' well-being is halting progress in the sport sector (e.g. Fletcher & Sarkar, 2016; Giles, 2021).The aim of my proposed Fellowship is to produce an evidence-based approach to enhancing athletes' well-being in elite sport. This will enable me to take part in activities to consolidate my doctoral research, build a publication track record, and establish myself as a research leader in the field. This will involve: (1) publishing high quality research articles that extend insight into the ways that enhance athletes' well-being with leading lights from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University and beyond; (2) establishing partnerships with leading research institutions in the United Kingdom (i.e. University of Bath and University of Portsmouth) focused on publishing two significant review articles in this field; (3) building relationships with key stakeholders in the sport sector through links at Loughborough University with an international network of organisations and associations (e.g. the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, FIFA, International Olympic Committee) to share research findings and maximise impact; (4) collaborating with national and international academics (e.g. Prof G Kerr; Prof K Kauffman; Prof K Mori; Dr A Brady) and key stakeholders (e.g. representatives from FIFA, IOC, Safe Sport International, UNICEF, Commonwealth Secretariat, World Players Association) in sport globally to conduct a pilot research study and develop a large funding application focused on athlete well-being worldwide; (5) forming an expert advisory panel (impact panel) focused on producing an intervention framework and recommendations for best practice, and identifying pathways to communicate research findings to key industry stakeholders and groups; (6) presenting my research at national and international conferences; and (7) attending high quality training seminars at Loughborough University and the National Centre for Research Methods to enhance my capability to successfully bid for funding opportunities.In summary, the proposed Fellowship activities and research will consolidate and extend my doctoral research and enable me to establish myself as a research leader in the field of athlete well-being. Significantly, the proposed Fellowship outputs will positively impact the lives of sport performers worldwide and shape how sport puts people - their safety, well-being, and welfare - at the centre of what sport does (Grey-Thompson, 2017).