** LOOKING FOR PARTICIPANTS ** for a SHU PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH STUDY
Looking for participants who:
- Have experienced psychological trauma or stressful life events 3+ years ago.
- Have used sport to help cope with trauma.
- Have been psychologically well for 1+ years
- Would be willing to talk about their experience in a 1-2-1 anonymous online interview.
Take part:
Please contact Lauren via email to get more information about participating in this study.
Interviews are due to be scheduled for May and June 2024
lauren.geoghegan@student.shu.ac.uk
Why conduct this study?
You are invited to take part in a qualitative study looking into how people use exercise/sport to cope with trauma. Conducted as part of a Masters Psychology Research Study at Sheffield Hallam University.
I hope to conduct a small number or 60 minute anonymous interviews to gain in-depth experiential perspectives.
A recent study by Thuany et al. (2023) found the prevalence of mental health issues among ultra endurance runners ranged between 32.0% and 62.5% for eating disorders, from 11.5% to 18.2% for exercise addiction, 18.6% for depressive symptoms, and 24.5% for sleep disturbance. This raises a question as to whether vulnerable individuals are seeking solace in this type of extreme sport as an avenue to cope with their issues, where potentially seeking professional help would be beneficial.
By conducting this study it is my hope to gain a more in depth understanding of how individuals with trauma have used sport/exercise and potentially the pain experience to help them cope. With a greater understanding of this experience we may be able to develop safe guarding protocols and offer support in a wider range of areas to vulnerable individuals.
Why take part?
The benefits of taking part. By agreeing to taking part in this study you are helping to further knowledge about the trauma experience and how people cope with and overcome it. The more that is known about individuals experiences the more other researchers can work to gain greater understanding.
The hope with gaining rich experiential information is to be able help people in the future. Another potential benefits to taking part in the study is the opportunity to talk through your trauma experiences in an anonymous space which may be a cathartic experience.
