Parents about parenting dual career athletes: A systematic literature review.

Abstract

Objectives To establish the scientific literature on the parents' view as supporters of dual career (DC) athletes, and to highlight practical implications for the development of education programmes to empower parents in this role. Methodology The systematic literature review included four electronic databases, from which 438 articles published in English between 1999 and 2019 were retrieved. Results A total of 14 studies achieved the eligibility criteria (i.e., focus on DC, involving parents as participants) for inclusion. Results show that the 14 studies included in the review were characterised by sample sizes <15 to >50 parents of individual and/or team sports athletes, involving data collection based on interviews, semi-structured interviews focus groups, questionnaires and a survey. A thematic synthesis highlighted a two primary constructs: the individual level and the inter-individual level, respectively. The individual level comprised two main themes: Approach to both Sport and Education, and Stressors and Coping, which included five aspects of parenting. The inter-individual level presented three themes: Relationship with the Athlete; Relationship with the Sport Environment and Relationship with the Academic Environment. Conclusions Findings highlighted a relevant parental role in supporting DC athletes and partial information on parental support strategies. In conclusions, the limited sample size and typology of sports, and the partial representativeness of countries have impacted the global application of the main findings. Furthermore, the need of an educational programme for parents and the need of regular parents-athlete-teacher/coach engagement were considered crucial to facilitate successful parental interventions at academic and/or sports levels and to limit the potential negative effects of DC parenting.

Understanding the educational needs of parenting athletes involved in sport and education: The parents’ view

“…When using qualitative research methods [ 52 – 54 ] in a preliminary phase of analysis, the goal is to identify the definitions of reality that inform the experiences of research participants. In particular, the thematic analysis of a systematic literature review provided insight into the challenges faced by parents as they provided support for their dual career athletes [ 55 ]. Our interpretive analysis data identified five major themes around which the parents experienced challenges.…”

“…They were their: (1) relationship with the athlete; (2) relationship with the sport environment; (3) relationship with the academic environment; (4) approach to both sport and education; and (5) stressors and coping. These themes were then used as a basis for conceptualizing relevant research questions and doing an interpretive analysis of qualitative data [ 55 ]. Accordingly, the research team created five specific questions to identify the types of education needed by parents of student-athletes: 1.…”

“…To enhance the rigor with which our research was executed, the research team developed guidelines for National focus groups with parents of talented and elite dual career athletes, which outlined the defined research questions, the purposeful recruitment of participants, the focus group standard operating procedures, the data collection and synthesis, and the instructions to be provided to the parents participating in the focus groups. Thus, eight criteria for qualitative excellence were met [ 52 , 53 ]: 1) worthy topic, based on dual career research [ 9 – 11 , 55 ]; 2) rich rigor, grounded on developed guidelines for National focus groups with parents of talented and elite dual career athletes, in which the research questions, the purposeful recruitment of participants, the focus group standard operating procedures, the data collection and synthesis, and the instructions to be provided to the parents participating in the focus groups were clearly defined; 3) sincerity, built on open discussion between the members of the research team in designing questions, in conducting focus groups without interfering with the participants’ opinions, and in analysing data without a judgemental attitude; 4) credibility, to foster multiple opinions and substantiated by the various perspectives represented in the outcomes of the focus groups; 5) resonance, based on the involvement of parents of talented and elite dual career athletes, which per-se amplifies the actual outcomes of dual career support; 6) significant contribution, based on the knowledge that current findings represent the baseline for the following concept mapping procedures, as well as precious insights for parents of student-athletes, scholars, and policy makers; 7) ethical, based on the Declaration of Helsinki criteria, and certified by the external approval of the European committee selecting the EMPATIA project and the approval by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Ljubljana of the EMPATIA project (9:2018), which included the organization of national focus groups in five countries (i.e., France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Slovenia); and 8) meaningful coherence, achieved through the opinion of European dual career experts on the coherence between the research aims, procedures, outcomes, and interpretation.…”

Employee-Athletes: Exploring the Elite Spanish Athletes' Perceptions of Combining Sport and Work

“…Since the beginning of the twenty first century, in Europe, there seems to be increased interest in DC research (Guidotti et al, 2015 ; Stambulova and Wylleman, 2019 ). Some studies underlined how the difficulties experienced in combining professional sport and education could lead to personal discomfort, poor academic results, stress, loss of motivation, mental illness, and the perception of a negative impact of sports careers on academic performance (Christensen and Sørensen, 2009 ; Enoksen, 2011 ).…”

“…Recently, Stambulova and Wylleman ( 2019 ) showed in a review of studies on DC between 2015 and 2018 that the vast majority of papers addressed the combination of sport and education, and they recommend an increase in the research on DC in sport and work. This recommendation follows a change in the political trend, since, already in 2009, new policies were being implemented in relation to the employment, education, and enabling of elite athletes (Guidotti et al, 2015 ). These policies led to several projects aimed at the smooth development of the DC.…”