Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
J Athl Train. 2023 Sep 1;58(9):697-703. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-0548.22.
After highly publicized stories of student-athletes' struggles with mental health, the spotlight on mental health and well-being in this special issue coincides with a broader growing concern for the long-term impact of competitive sport participation on student-athlete health and wellness. The end of a competitive sport career represents a potentially vulnerable life transition. As demonstrated in the literature, the unique aspects of elite sport culture shape student-athletes' perceptions of their identity, health, and health behaviors, which have implications for how student-athletes navigate their health and well-being as they transition away from the embedded health care structure inherent to elite sport. Given evidence indicating that student-athletes may face mental and physical health concerns after retirement from sports, targeted transitional strategies are needed to provide patient-centered care in this population. In this article, we briefly summarize current understanding of sport transition and highlight some key findings from studies conducted by the contributing authors' research groups exploring the impact of sport career transitions on student-athlete well-being. We also reflect on limitations of the existing research and transition models and, in turn, propose potential directions for adopting a nuanced and multidimensional framework to explore interconnected transition domains. We conclude by offering recommendations for sports medicine professionals to consider in future research, programming, and policies to promote student-athletes' holistic well-being through this critical transition.
在备受关注的学生运动员心理健康问题的报道之后，本期特刊关注心理健康和幸福感，恰逢人们对竞技体育参与对学生运动员健康和幸福的长期影响越来越关注。竞技生涯的结束代表着一个潜在的脆弱的生活转变。正如文献所表明的那样，精英体育文化的独特方面塑造了学生运动员对自己身份、健康和健康行为的看法，这对学生运动员在离开精英体育固有的嵌入式医疗保健结构时如何管理自己的健康和幸福产生了影响。鉴于有证据表明，学生运动员在退役后可能会面临身心健康问题，因此需要有针对性的过渡策略，为这一人群提供以患者为中心的护理。在本文中，我们简要总结了目前对运动过渡的理解，并重点介绍了由撰稿人研究小组进行的一些研究的关键发现，这些研究探讨了运动生涯过渡对学生运动员幸福感的影响。我们还反思了现有研究和过渡模式的局限性，并相应地提出了采用细致和多维框架来探索相互关联的过渡领域的潜在方向。最后，我们为运动医学专业人员提供了一些建议，以供他们在未来的研究、项目和政策中考虑，通过这一关键的过渡来促进学生运动员的整体幸福感。
