The Effects of the Coach-Athlete Working Alliance on Affect and Burnout Among High Level Coaches

Abstract

Research suggests that the numbers of coaches who are suffering from burnout symptoms are considerably high among coaches in elite sport. In this study, the authors explore the effects of the coach-athlete working alliance on positive-and negative affect and burnout in a group of high-level coaches. An online survey, consisting of the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Version, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, was completed by a sample of 299 coaches working with elite athletes or junior elite athletes. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modelling. The model explained 57% of the variance in cynicism, 32% of the variance in reduced sense of accomplishment and 26% of the variance in exhaustion. These effects mainly derived from positive affect and negative affect. However, working alliance showed a significant indirect effect on all three dimensions of burnot through the mediating variables positive affect and negative affect. These results are discussed in a cognitive activation-perspective.

Longitudinal measurement invariance of the Working Alliance Inventory - Short form across coaching sessions

“…The first objective of this study was to determine whether the three dimensions of working alliance (i.e., Bond, Tasks and Goals) represent the factorial structure of working alliance in a coaching setting, using the Dutch translation of the measure WAI-S. By applying a standard CFA-framework that sequentially employed the testing of one-, two-, and three-factor structures of working alliance throughout sessions, our main, as well as post hoc findings, indicated that the three-factor model of the WAI-S most adequately represented our data. These results are in line with most research on this topic which delineated a multidimensional structure of the WAI-S (i.e., three factors; [ 12 , 17 – 19 , 25 ]), which is congruent with Bordin’s [ 7 ] original conceptualization of working alliance. Similar to Hukkelberg and Ogden’s [ 17 ] study results, we found Item 9 (“My coach does not understand what I am trying to accomplish in coaching”—goals factor) and Item 11 (“My coach and I have different ideas on what my problems are"—goals factor) to have relatively weak factor loadings [ 58 , 69 ].…”

“…So far, only two studies described the factorial structure of the working alliance in a coaching context, more specifically sports coaching. These particular studies [ 24 , 25 ] used an adjusted version of the WAI-S for sports coaching and found contrasting evidence for either a one- or three-factor structure. However, as the relationship between coaches and athletes represents an intense, asymmetrical power dynamic [ 26 ], the working alliance in sports coaching may deviate from the theoretical conceptualization by Bordin [ 7 ].…”

Identifying Unique Contributions of the Coach–Athlete Working Alliance, Psychological Resilience and Perceived Stress on Athlete Burnout among Norwegian Junior Athletes

“…The WAI-S has been shown to possess good construct validity [39]. A Norwegian version of the WAI-S, translated and adjusted for the sport context by Moen and Myhre (2017) [21], was used. Examples of items covering the three dimensions of the working alliance are (1) bond—“There is mutual trust between my coach and me,” (2) goal—“My coach and I work on mutually agreed-upon goals,” and (3) task—“My coach and me agree about the steps I need to take to improve in my sport.” The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the three subscales were 0.73, 0.92 and 0.90, respectively.…”

“…The progress of athletic performance is brought about by changes in skills and capacities, and the coach-athlete relationship may, therefore, be considered to be a change-inducing relationship [21]. Based on the work of Bordin (1979), such a relationship is defined as a working alliance between the helper and the help-seeker [22].…”

“…The working alliance consists of three interdependent components: Bond embraces the positive personal attachments between the helper and the help-seeker including issues such as mutual trust, acceptance and confidence [22,23,24]; Goal refers to the helper and the help-seeker mutually agreeing on the aims that are the target of the helping relationship; Task refers to the activities that the partnership will engage in to facilitate change, and both parties should perceive these tasks as applicable and beneficial [22,23,24]. Measuring these characteristics, a coach–athlete Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) has been introduced in the sport setting [21,25].…”