Holding it together: Coping with vicarious trauma in sport

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Abstract

Objectives

Vicarious trauma refers to the negative effects that may be experienced after witnessing trauma (such as actual or threatened injury) in others. This study aims to examine vicarious trauma in sports coaches by drawing on the experiences of two trampoline coaches who have witnessed a serious athletic injury. In particular, this study focuses on how these coaches have responded to and coped with this traumatic event.

Design

The study draws on data from thematic, semi-structured, life history interviews that focus on the occurrence of one particular sports accident witnessed by both coaches.

Method

Multiple interviews were conducted in which participants were invited to recall the accident, their own responses to the accident, and the coping strategies employed. Interviews were analyzed using a holistic-content analysis in which thematic similarities and differences between the narratives emerged.

Results

There were three main themes that emerged, these were the need to make meaning following trauma, re-experiencing trauma, and acceptance and avoidance coping. Participants demonstrated the individual nature of coping with trauma. While one participant avoided the trauma by minimizing the events, blocking her emotions and giving support to others; the second participant showed acceptance of the trauma, was highly emotional, and received support from others.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the difficulties that may be faced by coaches following vicarious trauma. Although each coach presents different experiences and coping strategies they provide some indications of the level and type of support that may be required after witnessing athletic injury.

Highlights

► Case study of two participants who have experienced vicarious trauma. ► Participants attempted to appraise and make meaning of their experiences. ► Participants re-experiences trauma through flashbacks and intrusive thoughts. ► Participants engaged in both acceptance and avoidance coping.

Section snippets

Case study, participants and context

This paper uses stories generated from case-study research. According to Schwandt (1997) the terms ‘case’ and ‘unit of analysis’ are often used interchangeable in research. However, he notes, for the qualitative inquirer, the term ‘case’ means something more than just ‘n’. For him, a case is typically regarded as a “specific and bounded (in time and place) instance of a phenomenon selected for study. The phenomenon of interest may be a person, process, event, group, organization, and so on” (p.

Results and discussion

Overall there were three main themes that emerged from the data analysis. These were: Meaning of Trauma, Re-experiencing, and Acceptance and Avoidance. In the sections that follow each of these themes will be discussed alongside quotes from Kate and Paul to highlight their experiences. These will also be combined with theoretical reflections on the data. In doing this we aim to provide commentary and comparison on how the experiences of our participants in a sporting context may compare to

Conclusions

Much research attention has been granted to the psychological effects of various traumatic events such as transportation accidents, natural disasters, and war related traumas (e.g., Holmes et al., 2007, Park and Ai, 2006). For example, Holmes et al. (2007) highlighted the intrusive imagery experiences of London school children viewing the attacks of September 11, 2001 on television. Yet despite this wealth of trauma-related research there remains a significant lack of understanding in the field

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