Assessing Stress Appraisals and Coping Styles Among Ghana Premier League Coaches and Players

Abstract

This study’s main objective was to ascertain how coaches and players in Ghana's premier league in 2020-2021 perceived their levels of stress and coping skills. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey approach. Using a census, 44 formally registered male coaches (Mean-age = 42.30, SD =10.44) and 424 players (Mean-age = 22.36, SD = 3.53) from 17 premier league clubs answered a questionnaire consisting of standardised measures on organizational stressor indicators (OSI-SP), stress appraisals (SAM), and coping methods (MCOPE). In order to examine the data, descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and multivariate multiple regression were all utilized. The findings demonstrated that football coaches and players experienced a wide range of stresses, with player selection serving as both coaches and players’ most frequent source of stress (i.e., being selected). Coaches most frequently used the stress assessment approaches controllable-by-self, challenge, and controllable-byothers. The findings also indicated that problem-focused coping strategies were more prevalent among coaches and players. In general, there was a strong correlation between football coaches' and players’ coping techniques. For instance, controllable-by-self was connected to problem-focused coping in coaches. Challenge, controllable-by-self, and controllable-by-others assessments had a significant impact on participants' problem-focused coping (active coping). It is advised that team managers, sport psychologists, and sports organizations in premier league clubs acknowledge that coaches and players deal with a variety of stressors and make sure that designed interventions (such as psychological skills training) are included to provide enough psychological support for the identified groups to improve their performance well-being.