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Retirement from sport is widely accepted as an important period of change for athletes. Existing studies have focused on investigating the mental health and well-being of current players, while limited research has explored the impact of retirement on elite rugby players. The present study aimed to examine how athletic identity, psychological flexibility, and valued living impact subjective well-being and psychological distress in retired elite rugby players. A cross-sectional, between-subject, factorial design was adopted. Seventy-seven retired elite rugby players were recruited to the Tackling Next Steps project and completed an online survey between March 2021 and December 2021. Suboptimal levels of subjective well-being were reported by 64% of retired players, and 43% reported clinical levels of distress. Valued living and psychological flexibility were shown to significantly predict subjective well-being. The results show that promoting psychological flexibility and valued living may have positive effects on subjective well-being in retired rugby players.

Prevalence studies on depressive symptoms in collegiate athletes have yielded varied estimations, which may be due, in part, to survey administration privacy. However, the influence of survey administration privacy (i.e., anonymous and confidential) on depressive symptom disclosure remains unknown in sport. The purposes of the current study, therefore, were twofold: (a) compare depressive symptoms reported under high- and low-privacy conditions and (b) examine factors associated with underreporting (i.e., social desirability). College athletes (N = 123) were randomly assigned to high- and low-privacy conditions. Results indicated no significant difference, F(1, 120) = 0.59, p = .446, between the prevalence of depressive symptoms reported across conditions when controlling for sex, and no significant correlation between depressive symptoms and social desirability (r = −.01, p = .886). Taken together, results indicated that survey administration privacy did not impact depressive symptom disclosure in the current sample.

Self-efficacy plays a vital role in an athlete’s injury and rehabilitation experience and is linked to successful rehabilitation outcomes. We sought to develop a deeper understanding of self-efficacy sources throughout injury rehabilitation using an interpretative phenomenological analysis design grounded in a pragmatist paradigm. Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine male Division II collegiate athletes throughout injury rehabilitation. Seven themes were identified as sources of athletes’ self-efficacy during rehabilitation phases, and two themes were identified as influencing participants in their selection and weighing of the sources of self-efficacy. Athletes described several sources as negatively impacting their self-efficacy, and differences were observed in the sources reported across the phases of injury rehabilitation. Results suggest the influence of sources of efficacy information fluctuates over the course of injury rehabilitation. These findings can contribute to further research in the area, as well as strategies and interventions to better assist athletes through injury rehabilitation.

While the environment in which National Collegiate Athletic Association coaches operate makes them susceptible to mental health issues, many do not seek professional help. The Reasoned Action Approach posits that attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norms shape intentions for help-seeking behaviors. This study was designed to: (a) validate two commonly utilized instruments measuring psychological help-seeking beliefs for use with National Collegiate Athletic Association coaches; (b) assess coaches’ attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norms toward seeking mental health services for themselves; and (c) examine differences in beliefs based on gender, race, coaching role, age, and coaching experience. N = 1,424 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, II, and III coaches participated. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated the Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services provides valid and reliable measurements for participants’ beliefs toward seeking services for themselves. Participants reported moderately positive attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norms. Male coaches indicated significantly lower positive beliefs than female coaches.

Evidence-based stigma reduction interventions for student-athletes exist, but researchers have focused on assessing their effectiveness with little attention paid to understanding how participants experience such programs. The current study aimed to qualitatively evaluate a mental illness destigmatization intervention delivered to 35 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I student-athletes. The program consisted of four weekly 1 hr empirically based sessions. Program-level results showed that participants increased their understanding of student-athlete mental health and identified actionable ways to combat stigma. Session-level results revealed intervention components impacted knowledge and application consistent with their theoretical underpinnings (i.e., mental health literacy). Practical guidelines based on the findings suggest stigma reduction interventions aimed at student-athletes should provide information specific to the athletic context (i.e., common symptoms experienced by athletes), consider content that moves beyond mental health literacy (e.g., contact-based interventions), and present opportunities for participants to apply what they have learned (i.e., roll play displaying empathy).