Bad Blood? Menstrual pain, stigma, and mental illness in competitive sport cultures

坏血？

• 批准号: 2882554
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Loughborough University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2882554
• 关键词: Bad; Blood; Menstrual; pain; stigma

The impact of menstruation on female athlete performance and wellbeing has emerged as a priority issue within sport. Menstruation is often accompanied by psychological, physical, and behavioural symptoms that disrupt daily functioning in many aspects of life. Half the world's population menstruates, yet it is associated with significant societal and cultural taboo. Elite athletes, such as Iga Swiatek have been credited with breaking the silence on the impact menstruation can have on athletic performance and the lack of professional knowledge on how to manage it. The current programme of research aims to prioritise female athletes' voices to explore menstruation challenges within competitive sport cultures.Most menstrual research has focused on how female athletes objective symptoms, such as reduced focus and extreme pain, disrupt training and performance. Framing menstruation as a physiological issue has raised awareness of athlete's struggles, however, it places the "problem" of menstruation inside women's bodies. The risks associated with demonising a natural biological process has resulted in some athletes preferring not to menstruate at all, by taking continuous hormonal contraception. Purely physiological perspectives ignore the social and cultural influences on menstrual experiences and do not consider the role elite sporting environments may have on athlete menstrual health and performance. Within the general population, menstruation can be deemed unclean and disgusting, leading to psychological stress and shame. Menstrual issues can lead to the development of mental disorders, such as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder and for some women, suicidal ideation. Despite the proliferation of mental health research in sport, athlete menstrual stigma, shame, and mental ill health are yet to be studied. This stigma leaves athletes too fearful to disclose menstrual issues and unable to access support. Addressing these gaps, this research will broaden the focus of athletes' menstrual experiences beyond performance impacts, to include wider mental health. Specifically, through a series of studies, we will explore personal narratives of athletes who experience severe menstrual symptoms and mental ill health. The first phase of this studentship will deploy narrative research to explore athletes' experiences of menstruation and mental illness in sport, particularly exploring how sport environments and associated social factors interact to shape challenging menstrual experiences. Building upon this, phase 2 will utilise reflexive thematic analysis to explore how athletes disclose menstrual issues to their coaches and/or teammates. There will be an explicit focus on what led to the disclosure, how the disclosure was made, and the perceived response and associated impacts. In phase 3, participatory research will be used to co-produce an interactive psychoeducational intervention to support healthier sport environments for female athletes, by female athletes. Results will hold relevance for organisations and applied practitioners committed to improving practices that support female athletes to manage menstrual cycle challenges in a performance setting.

月经对女性运动员表现和健康的影响已成为体育运动中的一个优先问题。月经通常伴随着心理、身体和行为症状，这些症状扰乱了生活许多方面的日常功能。世界上一半的人口都会经历月经，但它却与重大的社会和文化禁忌相关。伊加·斯瓦泰克 (Iga Swiatek) 等精英运动员打破了关于月经对运动表现的影响以及缺乏如何管理月经的专业知识的沉默。目前的研究计划旨在优先考虑女性运动员的声音，以探索竞技体育文化中的月经挑战。大多数月经研究都集中在女性运动员的客观症状（例如注意力不集中和极度疼痛）如何扰乱训练和表现。将月经视为一个生理问题提高了人们对运动员斗争的认识，然而，它将月经“问题”置于女性体内。妖魔化自然生物过程带来的风险导致一些运动员宁愿通过持续服用激素避孕来完全不来月经。纯粹的生理观点忽略了社会和文化对月经经历的影响，也没有考虑精英运动环境可能对运动员月经健康和表现的作用。在一般人群中，月经被认为是不干净和令人厌恶的，导致心理压力和羞耻。月经问题可能导致精神障碍的发展，例如经前烦躁不安，对于某些女性来说，还会导致自杀意念。尽管体育运动中的心理健康研究不断涌现，但运动员月经耻辱、羞耻和心理健康问题仍有待研究。这种耻辱让运动员不敢透露月经问题，也无法获得支持。为了解决这些差距，这项研究将把运动员月经经历的焦点扩大到表现影响之外，涵盖更广泛的心理健康。具体来说，通过一系列研究，我们将探讨经历严重月经症状和精神疾病的运动员的个人叙述。该学生项目的第一阶段将采用叙事研究来探索运动员在运动中的月经和精神疾病经历，特别是探索运动环境和相关社会因素如何相互作用以塑造具有挑战性的月经经历。在此基础上，第二阶段将利用反思性主题分析来探索运动员如何向教练和/或队友透露月经问题。将明确关注导致披露的原因、披露方式以及感知的反应和相关影响。在第三阶段，女运动员将利用参与式研究来共同制定交互式心理教育干预措施，以支持为女运动员提供更健康的运动环境。结果将对致力于改进支持女运动员在表现环境中应对月经周期挑战的实践的组织和应用从业者具有相关性。