Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Study to explore how marathon runners cope with injuries
The research project, led by Dr Gareth Jowett at Leeds Beckett alongside colleagues at York St John University, will examine the role that perfectionism plays in coping with sports injuries. The researchers are hoping to better understand the coping strategies adopted by marathon runners when recovering from injury and how perfectionism might influence this process.
Dr Gareth Jowett, Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport at Leeds Beckett, explained: “We know that the yearly incidence of injuries amongst marathon runners has been reported to be as high as 92% and that runners have different ways of dealing with injury. These include using humour, relying on emotional support, as well as denial and self-blaming. In this study we are interested in examining whether perfectionism is associated with the different coping strategies that marathon runners employ when injured.”
To take part in the research study, marathon runners are asked to fill in a short questionnaire at https://t.co/jBsUUYa4Yl.
Gareth is a Senior Lecturer in sport and exercise psychology. He is a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Gareth’s research interests surround the psychological factors which contribute to the development of wellbeing and ill-being in achievement contexts including sport, exercise and dance. Specifically, his research aims to investigate how perfectionism and motivational processes serve to either facilitate engagement, or increase the risk of burnout. During his PhD, he examined whether psychological needs, and self-determined versus controlled motivation, explain the perfectionism-engagement and perfectionism-burnout associations, and whether perfectionism and self-determined motivation influence fluctuations in emotion during a representative tour.
Gareth is an active member of the sport psychology community. He has presented at several international and domestic sport psychology conferences, has written several papers and book chapters and is a reviewer for several sport psychology journals.