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peer-reviewed, Objective: To examine the individual experiences of injury burden in amateur Rugby players across the onset of injury, rehabilitation, and return to play. Design: Qualitative. Setting: Irish amateur Rugby clubs. Participants: Three male and two female Rugby players who sustained a severe injury that resulted in a time loss of at least 28 days. Main outcome measures: Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the injury burden experienced during the three phases of injury. Results: Hierarchical content analysis revealed 36 codes representing individual injury burden, which were clustered into seven themes across personal (emotional reaction; impact on performance or involvement; lack of knowledge; severity of injury and incapacitation) and situational (exposure to others playing; negative experiences with treatment or rehabilitation; societal burden) dimensions. Conclusions: The findings indicate that individual injury experiences can affect a player’s recovery and rehabilitation outcome, potentially extending the injury process and affecting player availability for the team. As such, injury management should focus on alleviating any injury-related burden experienced by players, as well as burden placed on the team, to maximise rehabilitation outcomes.

peer-reviewed, The primary aims of this thesis were: (i) to examine motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes; (ii) to quantify changes in motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes over time; and, (iii) to investigate the associations between motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes at baseline and over time. Seven psychometric inventories were administered to 325 athletes across 14 teams in six sports throughout Ireland: Sport Motivation Scale II; Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire II; Basic Need Satisfaction in Sport Scale; Profile of Mood States – Brief; Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomology – Self Report; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; and, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Y2. Data collection continued for the full competitive season. Based on standard instructional sets for the inventories, motivation, motivational climate and basic needs satisfaction were assessed quarterly, sleep quality and anxiety symptoms monthly, and total mood disturbance (TMD) and depressive symptoms weekly. Overall, the athletes reported adaptive motivational patterns, with scores indicating high self-determination, perceptions of a task climate, and satisfaction of basic needs. They also reported low (good) TMD and anxiety symptoms, but elevated depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality. Results of cross-sectional structural equation modelling (SEM) reinforced previously supported pathways between motivational climate, basic needs, and motivation. Additionally, controlled motivation regulations were positively associated with the four mental health outcomes, while integrated regulation had a negative association with anxiety, and intrinsic regulation had a positive association with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal data for both student-athletes and club athletes revealed that motivationrelated variables were predominantly stable, while mental health outcomes improved over time. Significant associ

peer-reviewed, The primary aims of this thesis were: (i) to examine motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes; (ii) to quantify changes in motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes over time; and, (iii) to investigate the associations between motivation-related and mental health variables among elite athletes at baseline and over time. Seven psychometric inventories were administered to 325 athletes across 14 teams in six sports throughout Ireland: Sport Motivation Scale II; Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire II; Basic Need Satisfaction in Sport Scale; Profile of Mood States – Brief; Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomology – Self Report; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; and, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory – Y2. Data collection continued for the full competitive season. Based on standard instructional sets for the inventories, motivation, motivational climate and basic needs satisfaction were assessed quarterly, sleep quality and anxiety symptoms monthly, and total mood disturbance (TMD) and depressive symptoms weekly. Overall, the athletes reported adaptive motivational patterns, with scores indicating high self-determination, perceptions of a task climate, and satisfaction of basic needs. They also reported low (good) TMD and anxiety symptoms, but elevated depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality. Results of cross-sectional structural equation modelling (SEM) reinforced previously supported pathways between motivational climate, basic needs, and motivation. Additionally, controlled motivation regulations were positively associated with the four mental health outcomes, while integrated regulation had a negative association with anxiety, and intrinsic regulation had a positive association with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal data for both student-athletes and club athletes revealed that motivationrelated variables were predominantly stable, while mental health outcomes improved over time. Significant associ

peer-reviewed, Motivation has been the subject of much research in the sport psychology literature, whereas athlete mental health has received limited attention. Motivational complexities in elite sport are somewhat reflected in the mental health literature, where there is evidence for both protective and risk factors for athletes. Notably, few studies have linked motivation to mental health. Therefore, the key objective of this study was to test four mental health outcomes in the motivational sequence posited by the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: motivational climate!basic psychological needs!motivation!mental health outcomes. Elite team-sport athletes (140 females, 75 males) completed seven psychometric inventories of motivation-related and mental health variables. Overall, the athletes reported positive motivational patterns, with autonomous motivation and task climate being more prevalent than their less adaptive counterparts. Elevated depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality affected nearly half of the cohort. Structural equation modeling supported pathways between motivational climate, basic needs, motivation, and mood, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and trait anxiety. Specifically, a task climate was positively associated with the three basic psychological needs, and an ego climate was positively associated with competence. Autonomy and relatedness had positive and negative associations with autonomous and controlled forms of motivation, respectively. Controlled motivation regulations were positively associated with the four mental health outcomes. Integrated regulation had a negative association with anxiety, and intrinsic regulation had a positive association with depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the complexities of and interrelations between motivation and mental health among athletes, and support the importance of considering mental health as an outcome of motivation.

peer-reviewed, Objectives: This study characterised mental health, motivation, and their interrelations among 38 elite studentathletes over a 13-week season, while monitoring and considering the influence of their athletic and academic schedules. Design: Longitudinal. Method: Electronically-administered questionnaires measured total mood disturbance and depressive symptoms (weekly), sleep quality and trait anxiety (monthly), and motivation, basic needs satisfaction and motivational climate (weeks one and 13). Results: Thirty-seven percent of athletes reported scores indicative of mild-to-moderate depression, 32% were poor sleepers, and 8% were high trait anxious. These outcomes significantly improved over time, whereas the motivation-related variables remained stable. The athletes were predominantly intrinsically motivated, and reported high satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Task climate exceeded its ego counterpart. There were no significant sex-related differences for any mental health outcome at week one; however, autonomy and relatedness were significantly higher among females. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest that psychological monitoring of student-athletes, particularly over intense athletic and academic periods, is a powerful tool for identifying potential mental health and/or motivation-related issues that may influence performance and well-being.

peer-reviewed, Objectives: The purpose of this review was to synthesise contemporary research on competitive sport motivation (1995e2016) with a view to identifying trends and gaps in sample characteristics, research designs and analytical strategies, and classifying associated topics. Design: Narrative review. Method: Four databases were searched using a focused search strategy, leading to 63 studies that met the inclusion criteria. These were then evaluated in five sections: Theoretical Frameworks, Sample Characteristics, Research Designs, Analytical Strategies and Topics. Results: A total of 63 studies comprising 12,440 participants were appraised. The average sample size and participant age were 197 and 22.6 years, respectively. Just over half of the studies described their sample as high-level. The majority of studies were quantitative and employed a cross-sectional design. A range of innovative statistical analyses were used, with structural equation modelling being increasingly adopted. In addition to studies focusing on motivation as a stand-alone topic, researchers in the area also investigated its relationship with motivational climate, burnout, doping, perfectionism, injury, and several other related variables. Conclusions: After reviewing the body of research on this specific topic area, promising directions for future research are presented. The focused approach particularly seeks to encourage researchers to employ different methodologies, and prioritise underused topics in future research on competitive athlete groups. Furthermore, the review points to several practical implications for competitive sport stakeholders.

peer-reviewed, Motivation is widely-researched, in both sport psychology and other fields. As rigorous measurement is essential to understanding this latent construct, a critical appraisal of measurement instruments is needed. Thus, the purpose of this review was to evaluate the six most highly cited motivation measures in sport. Peer-reviewed articles published prior to August 2016 were searched to identify the six most highly cited motivation questionnaires in sport: Sport Motivation Scale (SMS), Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI), Situational Motivational Scale (SIMS), Perceptions of Success Questionnaire (POSQ), Behavioural Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (BRSQ), and Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ). The questionnaires were then evaluated and discussed in four sections: Development, Reliability, Correlates, and Summary. Bibliometric data were also calculated (average weighted impact factor) and assessed (e.g., citations per year) to evaluate the impact of the use of each questionnaire. Despite some variance in their psychometric properties, conceptualization, structure, and utility, the six questionnaires are psychometrically strong instruments for quantifyingmotivation that are widely supported in the literature. Bibliometric analyses suggested that the IMI ranks first and the SMS ranks sixth according to the average weighted impact factors of their original publications. Consideration of each questionnaire’s psychometric strengths/limitations, and conceptualization of motivation in the context of specific research questions should guide researchers in selecting the most appropriate instrument to measure motivation in sport. The average weighted impact factor of each questionnaire is a useful value to consider as well. With these points in mind, recommendations are provided.