Supporting athlete wellbeing for post-injury return to competition

Being out of competition due to injury or illness is a highly stressful time for elite athletes. An initiative led by Associate Professor Steve Swanson involves working with high performance sport support networks to help athletes return to peak performance.

This project aims to understand how athlete support networks can effectively work together to support athletes’ mental, emotional, and social wellbeing needs as they return to competition following injury, illness, or other incidents. 

With funding from the Australian Institute of Sport, Associate Professor Steve Swanson and team are working with performance sport practitioners – including coaches, performance psychologists, physiotherapists, and AW&E (athlete wellbeing and engagement) managers – to develop a framework for an improved ‘Return to Play’ process. 

“We want to understand and improve how high-performance sport support staff individually and collectively support athletes’ wellbeing,” he said. 

The project aligns with Australia’s High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy (HP2032+ Sport Strategy) commitment to Win Well for high performance athletes in the lead up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  

“To realise the ambitions of the HP2032+ Sport Strategy wellbeing functions, high performance support networks need strategic protocols to support collaboration,” Associate Professor Swanson said.   

The project, which involves a multidisciplinary Deakin team, particularly targets coaches’ unique role and responsibility in the high-performance sport system to foster a positive and holistic wellbeing culture for sustainable success.  

“Wellbeing research in high performance sport has understandably been dominated by studies on athletes. However, with the growing recognition that increased coach wellbeing contributes to positive environments and athlete wellbeing outcomes, we need to better understand what wellbeing means to coaches and other support staff.” 

Along with coaches, the research team will interview performance psychologists, physiotherapists and AW&E managers for insights on best practice and how to improve systems to enhance holistic athlete wellbeing during the return to competition journey.   

Associate Professor Swanson said both athletes and support networks would benefit from the findings.  

“Our study is positioned to have broad reach across all high-performance sports, from larger sports looking to leverage resources for competitive advantages, to smaller sports looking to engage strategically within the wellbeing space with minimal resources,” he said.