How do male professional athletes in team sports experience, respond to and cope with depression during their careers?

本研究探讨了职业男性运动员在其职业生涯中遭受抑郁症的经历。这个领域还没有完全被理解和理论化。文化、媒体和体育部最近发布了一项“精神健康和优秀体育行动计划”，旨在为有精神健康问题的优秀运动员提供更多支持。因此，需要高质量的研究来更好地理解这一现象并实施这一计划。本研究将采用解释性现象学方法。这将包括深度访谈，结合视觉启发和小插曲，与40名职业男性运动员在他们的职业生涯中经历过抑郁症（橄榄球、橄榄球联盟、橄榄球联盟和板球）。此外，还将对支持男性职业运动员的心理健康专业人员进行30次访谈。对运动员的访谈将重点探讨抑郁经历，对心理健康从业者的访谈将探讨抑郁男性职业运动员的共同支持需求，以及成功干预的特点。这两个群体的反映将有助于从整体角度看待这个问题，并支持有效的干预发展。这项调查将促进对男性职业运动员与抑郁症斗争经历的学术理解，并揭示他们的支持网络，以及及时寻求帮助行为的障碍和促进因素。研究结果将为治疗抑郁男性运动员的心理健康专业人员提供早期干预和最佳实践信息，并通过定性证据做出明确的政策贡献，有助于实施“心理健康和精英体育行动计划”。

This study explores the experiences of professional male athletes who have sufferedwith depression during their careers. This area is incompletely understood and under theorised. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have recently released a 'Mental Health and Elite Sport Action Plan' aimed at providing enhanced support to elite athletes who are experiencing mental health difficulty. High quality research istherefore required to better understand the phenomenon and deliver this plan.The research will take an interpretative phenomenological approach. This will involvein-depth interviews, in combination with visual elicitation and vignettes, with 40professional male athletes who have experienced depression during their careers (inFootball, Rugby Union, Rugby League and Cricket). Additionally, 30 interviews with mental health professionals who support male professional athletes will be undertaken. Interviews with athletes will focus on exploring experiences of depression, and interviews with mental health practitioners will explore the common support needs of depressed male professional athletes, and characteristics of successful intervention. The reflections of these two populations will facilitate a holistic perspective of the issue and support impactful intervention development. This investigation will advance academic understanding of the experiences of male professional athletes who have struggled with depression, and shed light on their support networks, and barriers and facilitators of timely help-seeking behaviour. Findings will inform early-intervention and best-practice for mental health professionalsworking with depressed male athletes and make a clear policy contribution through qualitative evidence that can aid the delivery of the 'Mental Health and Elite Sport Action Plan'.