Psychological Capital of Football Coaches and Its Impact on Their Mental Health

Abstract

Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is a recently emerging concept that has piqued research interest and investigations in clinical psychology. While mental health and the self-help industry is equally booming with researches aimed at alleviating mental illnesses. This study sought to profile the PsyCap and mental health of all 51 registered football coaches in the Ghana Premier League with the PsyCap questionnaire (short form) and Keye‘s Mental Health Continuum Questionnaire. The study adopted a mixed methodology (embedded design) to explore on one hand, the predictive value of PsyCap on the mental health of this highly stressed population and on the other hand, investigate behaviours that elite coaches intentionally engaged in and believed attributed to their flourishing state of mental health. It was found that football coaches possess exceptional levels of mental health and PsyCap. The study found a significant predictive value of PsyCap on the mental health of football coaches. The study also identified music, meditation, religion and religious activity, social and professional support, exercise and physical activity, positive affirmations and attributes, relaxation and nature, and work life balance as protective factors that shielded football coaches from the stressors of their job. The study concluded that given the evidence of the presence of PsyCap and mental health in a population once thought to undergo a lot of stress, intentional healthy behaviours can help people thrive, but with a low predictive value obtained from the regression analysis, the study recommends that a larger sample be used and other factors that may affect the relationship be explored