"Switching the mind off completely" - Understanding the psychology of rest in coaches

Abstract

Objectives: To better understand the psychology of rest in coaches. Rest appears to be important for coping, recovery, and well-being in coaches, yet there is limited research on and in turn understanding of this concept in this population.

Design: A qualitative description study design was employed.

Method: 22 NCAA Division I coaches were interviewed about what rest means to them, key barriers to rest in coaching, and strategies employed to obtain rest in the face of these barriers. A codebook thematic analysis was undertaken to examine the analytical generalizability (Smith, 2018) to the coaching context of an extant model of the psychology of rest in athletes (Eccles & Kazmier, 2019).

Results: The Eccles-Kazmier model appears to offer some analytical generalizability to the coaching context. Consistent with the model, the process of resting in coaches involves both sleep and resting while awake. Resting while awake involves (a) a break from thinking about work, (b) a break from effortful thinking generally, and (c) engaging in life outside coaching. However, departures from the model were also observed; specifically, unlike for athletes, the wakeful resting process for coaches does not appear to involve assuming control or experiencing variety.

Conclusion: The findings advance the current understanding of the constituents of rest in coaches and can inform coach education about how to obtain the rest needed to perform effectively and stay healthy.

Keywords: Burnout; Coach education; Coping; Occupational health; Recovery; Well-being.