Sian Edwards is studying for a PhD around athlete mental health and addictive behaviour and looking for athletes and former athletes to be involved
Sian is a PhD student at Cardiff Metropolitan University and my research interest is around athlete mental health, specifically addictive behaviour.
A former athletes herself, this is an area close to her heart. Addiction in sport is a recognised but under studied phenomena. We know that that addictive and compulsive behaviours such as alcoholism, gambling and ritualised/disordered eating and training behaviours are prevalent among athletes.
What is less clear is the mechanisms by which such behaviours are developed and maintained. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of sport in the manifestation and treatment of addictive behaviour.
In order to do this I am interviewing athletes/retired athletes who have experienced addiction at some point in their lives. The addiction does not necessarily have to have occurred during their athletic career.
There is a poster attached and information for any potential participants and we look forward to hearing the results