| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to examine the current literature on burnout in the
coaching profession, and to determine the prevalence and cyclical nature of burnout
in South African provincial cricket and rugby coaches, as well as the extent to which
these provincial coaches differ with regards to the level of burnout they experienced
over the course of their respective seasons.
For this investigation the total accessible target population from the provincial under
19 (n= l l) and senior cricket coaches (n= l l), and senior provincial rugby coaches
(n=40) in South Africa was used.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach & Jackson, 1981a) was used to
determine the level of burnout for the two groups of coaches over the course of their
seasons. Burnout levels were predicted on three subscales, namely, Emotional
Exhaustion, Depersonalisation, and Personal Accomplishment. This inventory, and
a demographic data questionnaire were mailed to each coach at the start of their
season, and the MBI again at the middle and end of the respective seasons in the self addressed envelope provided. In each instance a follow-up letter was sent to the
coaches who had not responded after a few weeks. On average, a response rate of
55% was obtained over the course of the season.
lV
Data was analysed by means of descriptive data statistics, which indicated that on
average, both groups of coaches scored low on all three the subscales at the start,
middle and end of the season. Simple analysis of variance indicated that no
significant increases or decreases occurred on any of the average scores of burnout
over the course of their respective seasons. Independent t-tests indicated that the
average scores of the provincial cricket and rugby coaches did not differ significantly
during any stage of the season. However, an individual analysis showed that there
was a decrease in the percentage of coaches experiencing burnout from the start to
the middle of the season, with a substantial increase towards the end of the season;
that more provincial rugby than cricket coaches experienced moderate to high levels
of burnout over the course of their respective competitive seasons; and that most of
the coaches who were suffering from burnout experienced it in the form of personal
accomplishment, i.e. they were feeling incompetent about their coaching, and/ or they
felt as if they had not achieved much through their coaching.
The recommendations and implications these results hold for sport psychology and
the coach are then discussed. | en_US |
