Utbrändhet och återhämtning bland elitfotbollstränare

Sammanfattning: Only a small number of studies dealing with burnout among coaches have been published, and none of these have dealt with burnout among elite soccer coaches in a European context. This thesis – investigating both the burnout and recovery process – includes a longitudinal design spanning ten years. Out of 53 head coaches, from elite soccer teams in Sweden, 47 participated in study 1. Results showed that burnout scores assessed by Maslachs Burnout Inventory (MBI) were generally low, but coaches in women’s premier league showed significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion than coaches in men’s soccer teams. A sub-sample of these 47 coaches was interviewed for study 2, namely those 8 reporting the highest MBI scores. Characteristics of the elite coach professions personality traits and the allover life situation of the coach were identified as risk factors for developing burnout, as well as some retention factors, risking to create detention effects which might worsen the stress levels of the coach. In study 3 and 4, the burnout and recovery processes were examined, respectively. On the basis of descriptions from the coaches, three separate phases are discerned from the burnout process: a phase of restlessness and annoyance, a fatigue phase and finally a phase of exhaustion and burnout, while it is possible to make out four phases in the recovery process: a wake-up process, a phase removing one-self, a phase of reflection and evaluation, and finally a phase of new-orienting one-self. Study 5 revealed that both energy cost reducing strategies and energy boosting activities, were used by the coaches to prevent burnout. Study 6 showed that lack of sufficient recovery periods inhibited a lowering of the burnout levels, but also that lack of adequate coping strategies slowed the recovery process and also that coaches who have experienced burnout have an impaired professional efficiency. Finally, the focus in study 7 was on longterm consequences of burning out. Increased fatigue, diseases, cognitive impairment and a lower stress tolerance were examples of negative consequences, whereas an improved ability to identify stress causes and an enhanced awareness about one’s stress reactions, as well as to reflect and prioritize health, were examples of positive and favourable consequences. It is also urgent that elite clubs strive to create a good psycho-social work environment, which will function as a buffer against stress.