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Introduction: Professional classical musicians operate within a highly demanding environment, which includes organizational, social, and emotional demands. When not effectively coped with, these demands may cause stress and negatively impact well-being. This qualitative study explored the perceived stress and well-being experiences of professional classical musicians through a transactional theory of stress. The study employed a double hermeneutic interpretation of the lived experiences of the perceived demands faced, stress appraisals made, resources used, and the influence on well-being. Methods: Six professional classical musicians were purposefully selected for participation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and participants reflected on two events: one they perceived as a positive experience and one that was negative. Transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Group Experiential Themes emerged. Results: Three Group Experiential Themes were identified: (a) Performance Demands; (b) Organizational Demands; and, (c) Relationship Demands. Participants predominantly appraised demands as a threat. A small number of demands were appraised as a challenge or benefit, and the fewest demands were appraised as causing harm or loss. Participants' appraisals were informed by underlying properties of stress appraisal such as self and other comparison, and preparation. Participants often relied on personal resources as opposed to available workplace resources. They perceived well-being to relate to stress appraisals with participants experiencing acute and long-term outcomes. Discussion: This study offers insight into the lived experience of the occupational stress process within professional classical musicians. The findings demonstrate that organizational interventions targeted at continuing professional development and social support are appropriate to help musicians cope more effectively with demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel concurrent, independent mixed-methods research design was adopted to explore elite association football coaches' stress and mental ill-/well-being experiences over the course of an entire season. Elite coaches (N = 18) completed measures of perceived stressor severity, coping effectiveness, and mental ill-/well-being, with a sample (n = 8) also participating in semistructured interviews, across four time points. Linear mixed-model and retroductive analyses revealed (a) lower mental well-being at the beginning of the season due to negative appraisals/responses to stressors and ineffective coping attempts, (b) higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization at the end of the season, (c) stressors high in severity led to decreased mental well-being (unless coaches coped effectively) and increased symptoms associated with burnout, and (d) ineffective coping attempts led to increased emotional exhaustion. These findings offer novel insight into the specific components of elite football coaches' stress experiences influencing their mental ill-/well-being over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by the Demand Resources and Individual Effects model (DRIVE; Mark & Smith, 2008), we assessed how work and individual characteristics were associated with perceived job stress, and psychological wellbeing outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, positive mood) in a cross-sectional study with two British police forces (N = 852 officers and staff). Work characteristics predicted psychological wellbeing outcomes both directly and indirectly through the perception of job stress. Work resources and individual characteristics moderated the relationships between work demands, perception of job stress and psychological wellbeing outcomes. The associations between perception of work demands, job stress and psychological wellbeing outcomes were improved in police officers and staff who reported moderate-high physical activity behavior. This study added new knowledge to the domain as it was the first to test the DRIVE model in its entirety in an occupational setting. It also provided new insight into the multi-dimensional factors associated with psychological wellbeing in policing. Practically, the findings implied a reduction of work demands, or interventions that target appraisals and/or physical activity might improve psychological wellbeing in police workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress experiences and their impact upon the daily lives and mental well-being of English Premier League professional (soccer) football coaches were explored using an in-depth qualitative design. Eight participants were interviewed using a semi-structured approach with thematic and causal network analysis revealing that (a) a range of contextually dependent demands were experienced and interpreted in relation to their situational properties; (b) many demands were appraised and emotionally responded to in a negative manner; (c) a range of coping strategies were adopted to cope with stress experiences, with many reported as ineffective; and (d) stress experiences often led to negative implications for their daily lives and eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. Positive adaptations to some demands experienced were reported and augmented perceptions of mental well-being. The findings of this study make a novel and significant contribution to understanding the interrelationships between the principal components of the stress process and the prospective links between stress and mental well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore the stress, emotion, and coping (SEC) experiences of elite cricketers leading up to and on the day of their first competitive fixture of the season. Four elite male cricketers (M = 21.25, SD = 1.5) completed Stress and Emotion Diaries (SEDs) for the 7-day period leading up to and on the day of their first competitive fixture of the season. We then interviewed the cricketers to explore the content of the SEDs in more detail. We used semistructured interviews to glean insight into the stressors, cognitions, emotions, coping strategies, and behaviors. Inductive and deductive content data analysis provided a holistic and temporal exploration of the SEC process underpinned by the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotions (Lazarus, 1999). The results highlighted the ongoing and continuous nature of the SEC process while illustrating the coping strategies the cricketers used leading up to and on the day of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to conduct an in-depth examination of the stress and emotion process experienced by three sub-elite-level male cricketers over a series of five competitive performances. Using reflective diaries and follow-up semistructured interviews, the findings highlighted the impact of appraisal, coping, and emotion on performance, with perceptions of control and self-confidence emerging as variables that can influence the emotive and behavioral outcomes of a stressful transaction. Postperformance, guided athlete reflection was advanced as a valuable tool in the production and application of idiographic coping behaviors that could enhance perceptions of control and self-confidence and influence stress and emotion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study generated a qualitative examination of male professional football players' experiences of stress during the loan transition using the Demand Resources and Individual Effects (DRIVE) Model. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants (M age = 23; SD = 2.5) from various Premier League (n = 2), Championship (n = 8), and League (n = 1) clubs across the UK who have experienced a loan to another club. Guided by a critical realist philosophical orientation, semi-structured interviews were deductively developed based upon the DRIVE model to stimulate contextual discussion about the pre-transition resources (e.g. organizational support), perceived transition demands (e.g. performance pressure) and appraisals. Finally, players were asked to discuss their strategies for coping (e.g. situational coping) with loan demands and if they deemed this coping to be effective. Braun and Clarke's (2013) thematic content analysis was utilised. Deductive thematic analysis was used to identify and evidence themes that were articulated in relation to the demands experienced, appraisals associated with such demands, and the coping strategies used to manage these demands. An inductive approach was used to code sub-themes from the data, on the basis of players' specific experiences that had not yet been exemplified in the existing literature. This study presented loan transition demands (performance and organizational) , contextual individual differences (situational coping, dispositional coping, and protective factors) and loan resources (transition preconditions and during loan) that may assist individuals' performance and well-being. Practitioners would be advised to work with players on facilitating pre-transition resources and identify perceived demands they consider important to their transition process. Future research should seek to explore the loan transition within elite female football. • This is the first study to present an examination of the stress experience of the loan transition. • This study has identified the various individual differences and loan resources that may mediate and/or moderate individuals' performance and well-being. • Practitioners would be advised to work with players on facilitating pre-transition resources and identify perceived demands they consider important to their transition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: This study examined the appraisals, emotional reactions, further appraisals and behavioural responses of athletes to the performance and organizational stressors they encountered within the competition environment. Design and method: Twelve sport performers (6 elite, 6 non-elite) were interviewed with regard to the experiences that they had identified in a previous study (i.e., ). Results and conclusions: The present findings provide insight into the transaction of athletes with their environment via their appraisals and illuminate the relationship between these initial appraisals, emotions, further appraisals, and subsequent behavior. Specifically, in some situations it was found that the appraisals and the negative emotions experienced were interpreted as debilitative for upcoming performance and, consequently, affected the athletes’ behavior due to a lack of control over these thoughts and symptoms. In contrast, examples were cited where stressors gave rise to negative appraisals and emotions, but through a further appraisal of their experience, the athletes were able to interpret the thoughts and feelings as facilitative for upcoming performance through an increase in focus and/or effort. Implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The area of competitive anxiety continues to be extensively researched with considerable attention focused on the notion of 'direction'. The purpose of this review is to demonstrate how the study of direction has advanced our understanding of the competitive anxiety response through providing an overview of the existing research, and emphasizing why sport psychologists investigated the underlying mechanisms of performers' facilitative interpretations of anxiety symptoms. Finally, we discuss how direction has been integrated into Lazarus (1990, 1991a); Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) transactional perspective of stress, and how this may be used to inform future research into the broader area of competition stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]