College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Term of Award

Summer 2026

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Megan Byrd

Committee Member 1

Christina Gipson

Committee Member 2

Tamerah Hunt

Abstract

Mental health help-seeking remains stigmatized in the world of sports (Cosh et al., 2024). Evidence suggests that female athletes may prefer to disclose vulnerable topics to individuals of the same sex (Keil et al., 2023), including help-seeking (O’Keeffe et al., 2022). However, no investigations have explored how coach sex or the coach-athlete relationship may influence female athletes help-seeking experiences. This is despite the importance of coaches in promoting and facilitating mental health services utilization (Bissett et al., 2020). To further understand this topic, the aim of this study was to explore what female athletes’ mental health help-seeking experiences are under same-sex coaches and other-sex coaches. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with current and former collegiate DI female athletes and analyzed inductively and deductively using a generic qualitative approach. Analysis was guided by the 3+1 Cs model (Jowett et al., 2005) and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2017), and revealed two main themes (coach-athlete relationship, coach sex) along with six subthemes. Results indicated that participants had a preference for female coaches regarding disclosure and help-seeking. Positive help-seeking experiences were marked by positive coach-athlete relationships, which included the presence of closeness, holistic commitment, and openness to feedback.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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