AUTHOR=Haan Raven , Ali Alblooshi Mariyam Essa , Syed Dawood Hasan , Dougman Khaled Khalifa , Al Tunaiji Hashel , Campos Luciana Aparecida , Baltatu Ovidiu Constantin 

TITLE=Health and Well-Being of Athletes During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Scoping Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.641392

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.641392

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: The ongoing global pandemic has become the world's leading health problem, causing massive public fear and concern. Reports suggest that athletes are seeking mental health support, showing the pressures of boredom and tension associated with their anticipated social isolation. The current study seeks to evaluate the evidence regarding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on occupational stress in professional athletes.
Method: A scoping review was conducted. A comprehensive search involving Embase and PubMed databases was conducted using a combination of the following key words: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus and athletes. In this study, articles were retained if they were original studies reporting impact of pandemic on professional athletes.
Results: Nine studies were identified as they investigated impact of pandemic on athletes. Most were observational, cross-sectional and one was longitudinal. Outcome measures mainly investigated were level of depression, anxiety, and stress. Dependent variables were physical activity, nutrition, mental state, sleep quality, individual well-being, social identity, exclusivity, and negative affectivity, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, gambling habits.
Conclusions: This review highlights the need for proactive engagement with professional athletes, coaches, trainers and sport councils to facilitate understanding and awareness-raising, process optimization, and the delivery of consistent training, psychosocial aid and occupational therapy programs that maintains the health and well-being of athletes while minimizing occupational stress during a pandemic.