Abstract
Research on self-compassion as an important resource for women athletes is increasing at an impressive rate. However, there can be misunderstandings about what self-compassion is and is not. This is perhaps not surprising given that self-compassion is not part of most athletes’ common vernacluar. The best language to use when talking about self-compassion with women athletes remains unclear. The purpose of this qualitative description study was to explore women athletes’ understandings of self-compassion, particularly their language used to describe the construct. Competitive women athletes (N =19; Mage = 22.6 years, SD = 5.4) were invited to participate in two phases of virtual focus groups. Phase 1 generated information regarding women athletes’ descriptions of self-compassion. Elo and Kyngäs’ (2008) content analysis was used to prepare, organize, and report the data into content-specific themes. Preliminary themes were shared with participants in Phase 2 (11 of the original 19 participants returned), after which all focus group transcripts (i.e., Phase 1 and Phase 2) were (re)analyzed using the same analytic approach. Three themes were generated: (a) Show up (driven by empowerment, supporting myself as I support others), (b) Regroup (honestly checking in with myself for real expectations), and (c) Trust (trusting the process and trusting myself). The language used by participants to describe self-compassion incorporates elements of both tender (i.e., comforting reassurance) and fierce (i.e., protecting and providing) forms of self-compassion. Findings provide relevant and useful information for researchers, applied practitioners, and sport personnel seeking to communicate with women athletes about self-compassion.
