International orienteering experts’ consensus on the definition, development, cause, impact and methods to reduce mental fatigue in orienteering: A Delphi study

Abstract

Orienteering is an outdoor activity wherein participants use a map and compass to locate control points and choose the quickest path to the next control point in a natural environment. Attentional focus, rapid decision-making, and high aerobic fitness may influence orienteering performance. Therefore, this research aimed to seek international orienteering expert consensus regarding the definition, development, causes, influences and methods to reduce mental fatigue (MF) in orienteering based on practical experience. Following ethical approval, a threeround Delphi survey was conducted online with twenty-four orienteering coaches and athletes (or former athletes) from 10 different countries with international orienteering competition experience. The threshold of consensus was ≥ 70% agreement among respondents. The experts agreed that MF exists in daily life and orienteering with a substantial negative effect on their conscious decision-making performance and psychological responses. The experts disagreed that the form of MF that athletes experienced in orienteering training are similar to the competition. However, there was no agreement that MF would impact endurance and high-speed running performance during orienteering. This research refines the definition of MF and summarises the distinctions in what causes MF in orienteering training and competition, implying that MF should be addressed separately.

Changes in perceived mental fatigue, physical fatigue and mood state during a 4‐day national junior orienteering competition preparation camp

“…(2019) have found that the individuals who frequently engage in a high self‐regulated environment perceive less stress than others. Similar to previous research, the perceived stress measured in this study was not clearly defined where there might be a variation in the interpretation and definition of stress between participants (Lam, Sproule, Turner, & Phillips, 2023; Russell, Jenkins, Halson, Juliff, et al., 2022). For a more accurate measurement of stress, future research should specify the type of stress, for example, cognitive stress instead of a general stress in order to further explore any potential interplay between stress and MF.…”

“…Therefore, this study cannot validate whether orienteers would experience the similar delay in recovery observed in this study during a typical preseason training week or camp. Importantly, although previous research has reported that routine school/university education and non‐orienteering challenges might also affect perceived MF and psychological responses negatively (Lam, Sproule, Turner, Murgatroyd, et al., 2023; Thompson et al., 2020), the influence of education on delayed recovery in 24POST and 48POST should be limited as the participants in this study were full‐time students and were on spring break. To address this limitation, future research could implement a longitudinal research design to determine the day‐to‐day changes and observe if a normal training week would generate a similar result to that of a training camp.…”

“…To reduce potential disparity between researchers' and athletes' interpretations of MF, as previous research has highlighted, the specificity of defining MF in application to the sporting context (Russell, Jenkins, Rynne, et al., 2019) and agreed MF definition was provided to the participants. The definition of MF refined by international orienteering experts: MF “an inability to maintain concentration and process information for decision‐making efficiently and effectively following a prolonged period of cognitively demanding activity” (Lam, Sproule, Turner, Murgatroyd, et al., 2023).…”

“…The vigor and fatigue subscales of BRUMS have been shown to be negatively affected by MF (Van Cutsem et al., 2017), and international orienteering experts have highlighted the importance of measuring confusion when evaluating the mood state of mentally fatigued orienteers (Lam, Sproule, Turner, Murgatroyd, et al., 2023). Therefore, participants rated 12 items on a 0–4 Likert scale regarding vigor, fatigue and confusion subscales of the BRUMS by answering a standardized question: “How do you feel right now” (Brandt et al., 2016).…”

“…This research reveals that MF is not exclusive to competition, but perceived MF can also accrue throughout training. Recent research with national level orienteers found impaired subjective ratings of MF, physical fatigue (PF) and mood state following orienteering competition (Lam, Sproule, Turner, & Phillips, 2023). This supports further investigation into whether a similar phenomenon occurs in orienteering training to test the opinions of orienteering experts (Lam, Sproule, Turner, Murgatroyd, et al., 2023) and inform discussion and practice of appropriate preparation and monitoring of orienteering athletes in competition and training environments.…”