A Qualitative Examination of the People Within Elite Endurance Athletes’ Networks During the Return to Sport Following Eating Disorders
Supervisor: Dr. Lindsay Duncan
Year started: 2023
Project status: Proposal
Project summary: Eating disorders affect up to 45% of athletes, with endurance athletes being among those at greatest risk. The purpose of this study is to examine who are the key people involved in elite endurance athletes’ return to sport following eating disorders, what are athlete experiences navigating this return within their network, and how such networks impact the return to sport process. I will recruit 8-10 elite endurance athletes who have experienced eating disorder treatment. The participants will complete a drawing-based activity to visually depict the people within their network who impacted their return to sport. Each participant will then be interviewed to explore the role and impact of those individuals they included within their network. Following these interviews, I will interview 12 new individuals with similar roles to those described by the athletes, engaging them in discussions about their experiences supporting an athlete’s return to sport following eating disorders. The final product of this study will be a conceptual model of the key actors and actions involved during the return to sport following eating disorders.
Relevance to Sports Science: In addition to the unique physical and psychosocial demands of elite sport, competing at high levels and eating disorder recovery both require multidisciplinary team efforts. For athletes with eating disorders, these networks must work in complimentary ways to support the athlete’s health, wellbeing, and performance. By identifying key actors and actions needed to support athletes recovering from eating disorders, findings from this study will provide practical recommendations on how to address eating disorders in sport from a multidisciplinary approach (e.g., encompassing coaches, nutritionists, psychologists). Findings will also support the development of stakeholder-specific sport policies on the prevention, management, and return to sport following eating disorders, ultimately improving athlete retention in high-performance sport.
Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Relationship Between High-Level Running and Cortical Thickness in Elite and Masters Level Runners
Supervisor: Dr. Caroline Paquette
Project status: Underway
Project summary: While short-term moderate-intensity exercise has been associated with increases in brain thickness the impact of high-level running on the natural age-related decline in brain thickness is not well understood. This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine differences in the thickness of the brain between young elite runners and older elite runners as well as age-matched non-runners. We believe that older elite runners will have a decrease in brain thickness compared to young elite runners, but an increase compared to the age matched non-runners. The findings from this study could uncover a relationship between high-level running and the preservation of brain structure with aging. This study could also allow us to discover regions of the brain that could be stimulated to optimize performance in elite runners of all ages.
Relevance to Sports Science: Primarily, this study will provide us with a more thorough understanding of the interactions between high-level exercise, the brain, and aging, and a potential protective effect of exercise on aging-related neurodegeneration. This research may uncover potential stimulation targets to optimize athletic performance in elite runners of different ages.
