Date of Award

1-2023

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (Research)

Department

Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies

First Advisor

Dr Con Burns

Second Advisor

Dr Cian O'Neill

Third Advisor

Dr Edward K. Coughlan

Abstract

Background: The current research investigated the health, wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours of a cohort of 1st year male Gaelic Games student athletes (Study 1), and subsequently evaluated the impact of a bespoke intervention on these health, wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours in the same cohort (Study 2).

Methods: Participants were 1st year male Gaelic Games student athletes (mean age 18.6 ± 0.6 years, n=166) in a university in southern Ireland. Data were collected using a mixed-methods approach during the 2018/19 and the 2019/20 academic years. Data collection consisted of an online questionnaire (Bickerdike et al., 2018), which assessed health, wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours and focus group discussion (Study 1). These results informed a bespoke health and wellbeing intervention (Study 2). The intervention consisted of interactive educational workshops (n=3) and a concurrent athlete mentoring programme. It was delivered and evaluated during the 2019/20 academic year with a post questionnaire and focus group discussions (n=6).

Results/Conclusion: Study 1 revealed ‘very good’ or ‘good’ (95%) perceived general health. Breakfast was more favourable at the weekend (84.3%) than midweek (65.7%). Student athletes consumed 7+ standard drinks on a night out (59.6%) and ordered takeaway up to 4 times p/wk (27.1%). Pressure of part time work was significant in the LAA subgroup (p=0.01). Student athlete’s main priority was sport participation and their primary stressor was university exams. Study 2 revealed significant post-intervention improvements in general health (p=0.008), alcohol (p=0.04), fruit and vegetable consumption (p=0.001), sleep quality (p<0.01) and reduction in takeaways (p=0.014). Conclusion: This research revealed the health, wellbeing and lifestyle behaviours of 1st year male Gaelic Games student athletes are sub-optimal and concerning. Increased health and wellbeing education in conjunction with mentoring support should be provided to this cohort to help reduce the challenges they face in the transition period into university life.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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