HEALTHY ENTOURAGES THROUGHOUT ATHLETIC CAREERS

THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT "HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS THROUGHOUT ATHLETIC CAREERS (HENAC)" IS TO ANALYZE THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTS SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHLETIC CAREERS (TOWARDS OR) IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORTS. THIS PROJECT, PROPOSED AS A CONTINUATION OF THE HEALTHY DUAL CAREERS IN SPORT (HEDUCA) PROJECT, INCLUDES A CONTEXTUAL AND LONGITUDINAL APPROACH AS KEY ELEMENTS. THE PROPOSAL IS FRAMED WITHIN THE DUAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS (HENRIKSEN ET AL., 2020) AND THE HOLISTIC ATHLETIC CAREER MODELS (WYLLEMAN & LAVALLEE, 2004; WYLLEMAN, 2019), AND AS AN ORIENTED-RESEARCH PROJECT, IT RESPONDS EXPLICITLY TO THE TOPIC PRIORITY OF HEALTH. HENAC PRESENTS A RESEARCH AND WORK TEAM OF SPANISH SPECIALISTS IN CAREER MANAGEMENT AND SPORTS TRANSITIONS TO ENSURE AN UPDATE OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE EDUCATION OF PROFESSIONALS IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORTS ENVIRONMENTS TO PREVENT AND IMPROVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF ATHLETES WITHIN THE ENVIRONMENTS. HENAC PROPOSES FOUR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES. THE FIRST IS AIMED AT EVALUATING THE RESOURCES AND NEEDS OF BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORTS ENVIRONMENTS; THE SECOND FOCUSES ON LONGITUDINALLY EVALUATING THE CAREERS OF ATHLETES INVOLVED IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE ENVIRONMENTS AND ANALYZES BOTH CASES OF ATHLETES WHO HAVE CONTINUED THEIR SPORTS CAREERS AND THOSE WHO ABANDONED OR WERE DESELECTED; FINALLY, THE FOURTH FOCUSES ON LONGITUDINALLY ANALYZING THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF WOMEN IN SPORT BOTH IN THE ROLE OF ATHLETES AS WELL AS COACHES AND REFEREES. THE DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES ARE APPROACHED WITH METHODOLOGIES THAT INCLUDE MIXED METHODS (OBJECTIVE 1 AND 2 COMBINING LONGITUDINAL AND MULTILEVEL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND QUALITATIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS) AND QUALITATIVE METHODS (I.E., OBJECTIVES 1, 2, 3 AND 4 INCORPORATING DESCRIPTIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATIVE AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEMATIC ANALYSIS, CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS). SIMILARLY, TO ENSURE THE APPLICABILITY OF THE KNOWLEDGE GENERATED TO THE TARGET POPULATION, OBJECTIVE 1 IS BASED ON CO-PRODUCTION PRINCIPLES (SMITH ET AL., 2022). IN ADDITION TO SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL OPEN-ACCESS SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES, THE PROPOSAL WILL RESULT IN THE DISSEMINATION OF PRODUCTS BASED ON CREATIVE NON-FICTION SUCH AS ANIMATION VIDEOS, COMICS AND TESTIMONIALS (CAVALLERIO, 2022). THIS APPROACH WILL ENHANCE THE TRANSFER OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO SOCIETY IN GENERAL AND, MORE SPECIFICALLY, TO ATHLETES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. THESE SCIENTIFIC AND DIVULGATION ADVANCES WILL BENEFIT THE QUALITY OF LIFE, WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH OF ATHLETES WHO DEVELOP IN HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORTS ENVIRONMENTS AND THE SUPPORT OF PROFESSIONALS AND SOCIAL AGENTS IN SPORTS AND PRIVATE ENVIRONMENTS