Natalie Durand-Bush

University of Ottawa · School of Human Kinetics

Introduction Professional and student-athletes are at risk of developing symptoms of eating disorders (ED), including drive for thinness and muscularity due to personal risk factors (e.g., low self-esteem) and sport-specific characteristics (e.g., sport requirements). However, limited studies have focused on ED symptoms among NextGen athletes (iden...

Safeguarding athletes from interpersonal violence (IV) in sport is an important topic of concern. Athlete Health and Performance (AHP) team members working with athletes have a professional, ethical, and moral duty to protect the health of athletes, prevent IV, and intervene when it occurs. However, little is known on their respective roles regardi...

Self-regulation is essential for optimal development, performance, and well-being in sport, and smartphones may support and hinder this self-regulation. The relationship between smartphones and self-regulation has seldom been investigated in sport. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine self-regulatory processes, conditions, and outcomes re...

Introduction Collaborative care is considered a best practice in mental health care delivery and has recently been applied in high-performance sport to address athletes’ mental health needs. However, how the collaborative process unfolds in practice in the sport setting has not yet been well documented. The purpose of this illustrative case study w...

There is a paucity of research examining exercise-induced pain (EIP) management in elite endurance sports. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate how elite endurance athletes experience and manage EIP to help inform the work of Mental Performance Consultants. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 female and th...

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown disrupted the university sports season and had negative consequences on the academic and personal life of university student-athletes, resulting in several psychological challenges. The goal of this study is to document the symptoms of mental illness among university student-athletes during the second wave of the COVI...

In the original version of the book, the following updates have been made: In Chapter 84, citations of Figures 2, 3 and 4 have been correctly placed under the section heading 3. The book and the chapter have been updated with the changes.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has led to significant disruptions in the lives of high-performance athletes, including the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, the cancellation of many international and national competitions, and drastic changes in athletes’ daily training environment. The purpose of this research was to examine th...

This exploratory study is the first to present an in vivo method to capture rich, longitudinal data on the prevalence and features of student-athletes’ smartphone usage and concurrent psychosocial outcomes. Ten competitive Canadian student-athletes were meticulously tracked through the collection of monthly self-report surveys and real-time smartph...

The Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology (GMP-SP) is a comprehensive, evidence-informed framework integrating mental performance competencies underpinning the athletic performances of Canadian athletes capable of stepping onto the Para/Olympic Podium. The GMP-SP was established to guide Mental Performance Consultants (MPCs) and National Sport Or...

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the impact of an online self-regulation intervention (SI) and mindfulness intervention (MI) in improving exercise-induced-pain (EIP) management, mental performance (i.e., SI and MI), and mental health. A sample of 16 middle-distance runners who participated in an 8-week SI or MI was purposefull...

Researchers have raised concerns about mental health in elite athletes, including problem gambling, where research hitherto is scarce. While gambling has been assessed in the younger student-athlete population, neither gambling nor the recently recognized behavio-ral addiction of gaming disorder has been sufficiently addressed in the elite athlete...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and appropriateness of a sport-centered, collaborative mental health service delivery model implemented within the Canadian Center for Mental Health and Sport (CCMHS) over a period of 16 months. The study is situated within a larger Participatory Action Research (PAR) project to design, im...

The product of a multi-partner initiative between Game Plan, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN), Own the Podium, and the Canadian Centre for Mental Health and Sport (CCMHS), the primary aim of the Strategy is to improve the mental health outc...

Varsity athletes are a group of high performers situated within a demographic notable for smartphone usage and media-multitasking. Surprisingly, little research has examined the impact of smartphones in the lives of varsity athletes. The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative study was to begin addressing this gap by investigating varsity athlete...

The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate gender differences in mental health among Danish youth soccer players, (b) to discover the mental health profiles of the players, and (c) to explore how career progression and mental health are related. A total of 239 Danish youth elite soccer players ( M = 16.85, SD = 1.09) completed an online quest...

This report is the product of a think tank bringing together international experts on Olympic and Paralympic Sport and Mental Health. Building upon the work of the first International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) Think Tank in 2018 in Denmark, the international members of this 2019 ISSP Think Tank (see Appendix A) used a series of directed sm...

This consensus statement is the product of the Second International Think Tank on Athlete Mental Health, held on the initiative of the International Society of Sport Psychology. The purposes of the Think Tank were to engage international sport psychology societies and organisations in a discussion about athlete mental health as embedded in an Olymp...

Mechanisms leading to cognitive energy depletion in performance settings such as high-level sports highlight likely associations between individuals’ self-control capacity and their motivation. Investigating the temporal ordering of these concepts combining self-determination theory and psychosocial self-control theories, the authors hypothesized t...

There are few specialized mental health clinics to address the unique needs of high-performance athletes struggling with mental illness. The Canadian Centre for Mental Health in Sport (CCMHS) was recently created to fill this gap. It is the first center in Canada to offer collaborative sport-focused mental health care services designed to help athl...

There are special considerations and challenges involved in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses in athletes (Glick & Horsfall, 2009). However, very few clinical psychologists and psychiatrists in Canada specialize in sport, representing a significant gap in mental health care service provision for this population. In this study, a group of exp...

The brave decision made by many Canadian athletes to share their experience with mental illness has fed a growing dialogue surrounding mental health in competitive and high-performance sport. To affect real change for individuals, sport culture must change to meet demands for psychologically safe, supportive, and accepting sport environments. This...

Recent development in the understanding of human motivation has highlighted the crucial and reciprocal role of motivation on cognitive processes. In elite sport settings, athletes are subject to external forces that do not necessarily correspond with their inherent drives. However, they seem to develop cognitive competencies to cope with external f...

While coaches are considered at risk of experiencing burnout, there is an absence of intervention studies addressing this syndrome. The purpose of this qualitative study was to conduct a self-regulation intervention with five Canadian developmental ( n = 2) and elite ( n = 3) sport coaches (three men, two women) experiencing moderate to high levels...

Smartphones and social media are an extension of teens and young adults in today’s society. Athletes are included in this demographic, yet research regarding the impact of smartphones on athletes’ performance, learning, and well-being is scarce. Consequently, there are no evidence-based guidelines to optimize the use of smartphones in the sporting...

We examined the level and prevalence of mental health functioning (MHF) in intercollegiate student-athletes from 30 Canadian universities, and the impact of time of year, gender, alcohol use, living situation, year of study, and type of sport on MHF. An online survey completed in November 2015 (N = 388) and March 2016 (n = 110) revealed that overal...

A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to investigate teamwork and team effectiveness in the sport of curling. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with 78 athletes and 10 coaches from 19 high-performance curling teams. Data analysis led to the creation of the Optimal Team Functioning (OTF) model, which comprises 8 key c...

We examined the level and prevalence of mental health functioning (MHF) in intercollegiate student-athletes from 30 Canadian universities, and the impact of time of year, gender, alcohol use, living situation, year of study, and type of sport on MHF. An online survey completed in November 2015 (N = 388) and March 2016 (n = 110) revealed that overal...

The purposes of this study were to (a) identify profiles of psychological functioning based on burnout and well-being indices within a sample of 250 Canadian developmental and high performance sport coaches, and (b) investigate whether coaches in these profiles differed in their capacity to self-regulate and their perceptions of stress. Using a two...

A multiple case study approach was used to investigate how four university student-athletes learned to self-regulate by taking part in an individual season-long intervention designed to reduce stress and burnout symptoms. A male hockey player, female fencer, male swimmer and female basketball player met the initial selection criteria of scoring 3.0...

This paper outlines the development and testing of a novel mobile research application, which was specifically conceptualized and produced for sport psychology research assessing the prevalence and impact of student-athletes’ smartphone usage. Research examining athletes’ use of smartphones within and related to sport is scarce. As well, the resear...

Background: Concussion treatment has become a prominent concern in recent years and currently lacks intervention and management consensus. The use of mental skills to manage symptoms has been proposed, but has not yet been investigated. Objectives: The current study was conducted to examine the psychosocial ramifications of concussions on athletes,...

While there has been a significant expansion of continued professional development opportunities in recent years, there has often, historically, been a reluctance for sport and exercise psychologists to both share, and receive feedback on their professional practice (Cotterill, Weston and Breslin, 2016). The recent development of the new Case Studi...

This study was conducted to examine the psychosocial ramifications of concussions on athletes, and to design, implement, and evaluate a mental skills training program that could potentially reduce symptom experience and improve quality of life. Using a self-regulation framework (Zimmerman, 2000), an athlete-oriented program with accompanying workbo...

Knee osteoarthritis is a common joint problem leading to an increase of pain and a loss of function in older individuals. The main objective of this study was to evaluate if a participant who was randomly assigned to his preferred group improved his adherence to an effective walking program compared to a participant who did not receive his preferre...

Quality of motivation, self-control competencies, as well as past performance experience influence sport participation outcomes in developing athletes. Studies have shown that junior athletes high in self-determined motivation are less prone to experience burnout, while self-control competencies help developing athletes to be conscious and delibera...

This article gives an overview of the history of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association (CSPA). The CSPA is proudly celebrating its 10th year anniversary. Over a decade ago, Dr. Penny Werthner, Dr. Natalie Durand-Bush, and Dr. Tom Patrick joined forces to create this organization dedicated to the practice of sport psychology in Canada. The CSPA...

Coaches have been described as teachers, leaders, motivators, managers, and arbitrators (Giges, Petitpas, & Vemacchia, 2004). That said, how coaches fulfill such roles is not well understood. The current study stems from an extensive grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) research initiative in which factors and strategies contributing to optimal function...

Coaches have been described as teachers, leaders, motivators, managers, and arbitrators (Giges, Petitpas, & Vemacchia, 2004). That said, how coaches fulfill such roles is not well understood. The current study stems from an extensive grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) research initiative in which factors and strategies contributing to optimal function...

Self-regulation capacity relates to important self-help skills allowing individuals to effectively manage their thoughts, feelings, and actions to attain goals while mastering a demanding environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self- regulation capacity, psychological wellbeing, and burnout in 37 Canadian...

The purpose of this study was to investigate coaches’ subjective experiences of burnout in order to shed light on the complex emotional nature of this syndrome. Five full-time paid coaches (two women and three men) experiencing burnout participated in an in-depth individual interview as part of a larger 13-week intervention study. A content analysi...

This study aims to identify potential factors that could affect adherence and influence the implementation of an evidence-based structured walking program, among older adults diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis. A total of 69 participants with mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the knee fulfilled an online survey on potential factors that could affe...

Researchers have directly or indirectly examined team processes that contribute to team functioning and effectiveness in sport. However, in doing so, they have typically focused on team cohesion, they have not consistently addressed the theoretical/conceptual frameworks underpinning their work, nor have they comprehensively derived implications for...

The aim of this article is to address the importance of monitoring the mental health and well-being of athletes and coaches. In today's society in which demands and expectations are soaring, athletes and coaches' daily functioning is being continuously taxed. It is imperative to look beyond their performance and monitor their well-being. There is n...

Two studies were conducted to assess the levels of stress, psychological well-being, mental health functioning, and self-regulation capacity of undergraduate students via an online survey. A total of 469 undergraduate students participated in Study 1 and 647 in Study 2. While the students in both studies exhibited low mental health functioning and...

Background The purpose of this study was to implement and assess the impact of a person-centered, feel-based self-regulation intervention on the stress, burnout, well-being, and self-regulation capacity of eight university student-athletes experiencing burnout. This was warranted given the negative outcomes associated with athlete burnout, the scar...

Self-regulation plays a pivotal role in sport and as key social agents, coaches should strive to develop their self-regulation skills and those of their athletes. The purpose of this chapter is to present self-regulation research from the domains of education and sport that is particularly relevant to coaching. Specifically, various self-regulatory...

Background Physician well-being has rapidly become an important area of interest given that reduced well-being can have a negative effect on patient outcomes. The majority of studies in this area have focused on impairment, and research on skills and processes that allow physicians and resident physicians to achieve and maintain adequate levels of...

The purpose of the current study was to examine the levels of burnout among student-athletes at two Canadian universities and to investigate whether there were significant differences related to gender, sport, year of university sport participation, academic year, and academic program. Burnout was measured by administering Raedeke and Smith’s (2001...

Despite increasing research on physician well-being, factors appearing to account for individual variation in levels of optimal functioning are largely unclear. One such factor could be self-regulation, which reflects how individuals effectively manage their thoughts, emotions and behaviours, and cope with adversity in their environment. The purpos...

Competition outcomes are a test of an athlete's ability to self-regulate; however, scant literature exists on how self-regulation processes are developed. This study investigated the strategies used by an elite curling coach to support co-regulation and help nurture his athletes’ self-regulation during a 16-week intervention involving multiple indi...

Aims: Osteoarthritis is the most common disabling disorder affecting particularly knees. A recent systematic review demonstrated the efficacy of walking programs for improving pain, functional status, endurance, and quality of life, in the management of knee osteoarthritis. Even though evidence suggests that walking provides numerous clinical benef...

Research exploring stress among sport coaches is scarce and although coaches experience a broad array of stressors, little is known about how they effectively cope with them (Levy, Nicholls, Marchant, & Polman, 2009). The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore eight women coaches’ experiences of stress and self-regulation and examine if...

The primary goal of this investigation was to document, using the participatory paradigm, a female university student's experience with a feel-based intervention intended to enhance the quality of her academic experiences including her self-confidence and self-talk. In this unique qualitative case study, the student participated in a 15-week interv...

In a team-sport setting, the ability to self-regulate is associated with enhanced teamwork and performance yet research on self-regulation in this context is sparse. The purpose of this study was to document if and how an elite curling team comprised of four female athletes and one male coach could enhance their cohesion and performance by engaging...

Although a considerable amount of research provides insight into why people participate in high altitude mountaineering, it neglects to consider how climbers stay motivated and surmount the obstacles that are inherent in the activity when they perform on the mountain. Through this ethnographic study, we explored the multi- dimensional experience of...

Abstract Self-regulation skills in the context of medicine are important and can foster learning. While regulating felt experiences has been shown to enhance performance and well-being in sport, this process has not been examined in medicine. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the process in which four female medical students le...

Self-regulation skills in the context of medicine are important and can foster learning. While regulating felt experiences has been shown to enhance performance and well-being in sport, this process has not been examined in medicine. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the process in which four female medical students learned to...

Radford (200433. Radford , M. 2004. Emotion and creativity. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 38(1): 53–65. View all references) postulated that emotions are fundamentally data that should be used as a guide towards creative acts. Yet, empirically speaking, we know very little about the role of emotions, and more specifically feel, in the creative e...

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences between of the OMSAT-3 scales occurred with an international sample of Iranian athletes with various levels of expertise in sport, e.g., qualifiers versus non-qualifiers or medalists versus non-medalists. Durand-Bush, Salmela and Green-Demers (2001) showed how the OMSAT-3 differe...

Resonance interventions are aimed at helping people develop an ability to regulate how they feel by identifying how they want to feel in different aspects of their life, how to prepare to feel this way, the obstacles that get in the way of that desired feel, and how to reconnect with it through individual or group sessions led by a consultant (Newb...

The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the process of burning out in endurance athletes. The experiences of three elite cross-country skiers who left their sport due to burnout were explored. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and inductively analyzed. The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and training logs were used to vali...

Researchers have investigated how elite or expert coaches learn to coach, but very few have investigated this process with coaches at the recreational or developmental-performance levels. Thirty-six youth-sport coaches (ice hockey, soccer, and baseball) were each interviewed twice to document their learning situations. Results indicate that (a) for...

Resonance is a process that empowers people to design their life in a way that allows them to feel the way they want to feel. In this holistic process, individuals identify how they want to feel, prepare to experience these feelings, recognize obstacles that prevent them, and reconnect with desired feelings when they are disengaged from the process...

The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of parents and coaches as social agents in the process of developing expert sport performance. Research findings regarding the perceptions of athletes, coaches, and parents involved at different levels of sport participation (e.g., sampling, specializing, investment, and maintenance years) suggest...

Research on expert coaching remains relatively scarce in the sport psychology literature, however, some key studies have shed light on the complex processes of coaching at the expert level. Cote Salmela, Trudel et at. (1995) postulated the Coaching Model that represents the mental model and the knowledge and practice of expert Canadian gymnastics c...

The purpose of this study was to explore the process of resonance in specializing (Côté & Hay, 2002) athletes and to examine the perceived effects of a resonance-based intervention on both training and performance quality and subjective well-being. Four female middle distance track athletes (M = 16.5 years) participated in in-depth, semi-structured...

Research on expert coaching remains scarce in the literature, however, some key studies have shed light on the intricate and complex process of coaching at an expert level. Côté, Salmela, Trudel et al. (1995) postulated a coaching model that represents the knowledge and practice of multiple expert Canadian gymnastics coaches who are dedicated to th...

Findings are reported of an evaluation of the effects of a 10‐month PST program on performance and psychological indicators. Ten nationally ranked female gymnasts (M = 12 years old) followed a psychological skills training (PST) program for half an hour per week. The five‐step intervention consisted of relaxation, self‐talk, goal setting, focusing,...

This study examined the role of parents in the development and maintenance of expert athletic performance. Nine parents and ten athletes having won at least two gold medals at separate Olympics, World Championships, or both were interviewed using an in-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured approach (Patton, 1987). The data were analyzed both induc...

This study examined the factors that contributed to the development and maintenance of expert athletic performance. Four men and six women having won at least two gold medals at separate Olympics and/or World Championships were interviewed using an in-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured approach (Patton, 1987). The qualitative data were analyzed...

This article presents a concept underlying excellence called resonance , which was developed based on research interviews and consulting practice with high-level performers from all walks of life. Findings suggest that many high-caliber performers follow a typical process as they become experts in their chosen field. They have a dream , which repre...