Emotional Labour Demands of Sport Psychology Practitioners Working in English Football Academies

Garner, L, McEwan, H and Whitehead, A ORCID: 0000-0003-0611-364X Emotional Labour Demands of Sport Psychology Practitioners Working in English Football Academies. Sport Psychologist. ISSN 0888-4781 (Accepted)

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Abstract

This study explored the emotional labour demands of sport psychology practitioners working in English academy football. Ten practitioners from Category 1 to Category 3 academies each participated in one semi-structured interview. Four were Health and Care Professions Council registered practitioners, six were trainees. Data were analysed abductively using reflexive thematic analysis, generating three overarching themes: (1) factors influencing emotional labour enactment, (2) emotional labour enactment, and (3) the undercurrent of emotional labour, with five sub-themes subsequently identified. These themes formed a process model of emotional labour that advances previous work. Emotional labour was influenced by systemic isolation, unrealistic workloads, lack of psychological literacy among stakeholders, and gendered and hierarchical power dynamics. Participants engaged in surface and deep acting to display emotions perceived to be expected by others, achieve a desired outcome, maintain professional boundaries, and preserve professional relationships. This resulted in emotional dissonance, perceptions of imposter syndrome and self-doubt, burnout, and negative impacts on wellbeing. Practical implications include emotional labour training in practitioner and supervisor pathways, improved organisational support, updates to the Elite Player Performance Plan, and stakeholder education to improve psychological literacy, including unconscious bias awareness training.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences; 1701 Psychology; Sport Sciences; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports > GV711 Coaching G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Human Kinetics
Date of acceptance:	9 October 2026
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2026 12:51
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2026 12:51
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29654

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