Impact of COVID-19 on athletes' mental health: A systematic review
Abstract
A systematic review was conducted, focusing specifically on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on professional athletes, particularly in relation to the three most common syndromes in the general population: stress, depression, and anxiety. After the systematic search, 15 articles conducted during the pandemic period were selected. These studies included both individual and collective sports; men and women from 10 different countries from Europe and Asia. Women had higher rates of stress, anxiety, and depression than men and veteran athletes presented fewer symptoms than novices athletes, probably related with a better use of coping strategies. For this reason, possible solutions and recommendations were offered to consider as conclusions, such as creating wellness protocols or working on coping strategies. Paying attention to the future aspects of this study allows us to consider the impact that COVID-19 may have had on athletes’ subsequent performance, as well as the need to adapt, address, and improve the limitations identified during this period.
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1. The Publication Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) has the Publication Rights (Copyright) to the published papers and works, and favors and permits the reusing of the same under the license indicated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013
2. The papers and works are to be published in the digital edition of the Journal under the license Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Obra Derivada 3.0 España (legal text). The copying, using, spreading, transmitting and publicly displaying of the papers, works or publication are permitted as long as: i) the authors and original sources (Journal, publisher and URL of the publication) are quoted; ii) it is not used for commercial benefit; iii) the existence and specifications of this users license are mentioned.
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