ABSTRACT

Psychobehavioral skills are acknowledged as useful for coping within talent development pathways, but the idiosyncratic nature of challenge experienced across individuals makes it hard to evaluate their use and efficacy. This study aimed to explore the impact of a generic stressor, the COVID-19 lockdowns, on dancers within a talent development pathway. We were interested in how dancers were perceived to have coped with this challenge and what skills, if any, they used. Fifteen practitioners (11 females, 4 males; M_age = 42.3 years; M_experience = 18.4 years) were interviewed across eight Scottish performance/educational government-funded organisations. Data analysis used reflexive thematic analysis. Findings revealed important perceived impacts on physical and psychological health and wellbeing, with the majority of participants reporting surprise that some coped differently than expected. Coping well was perceived to result from taking advantage of developmental opportunities, facilitative environmental factors, and possessing key psychobehavioral characteristics. Performers who were perceived to struggle did not cope well with teaching, interpersonal, physical, and psychological factors which were exacerbated by social/environmental contexts, leading to pathway disengagement/derailment. Data suggest a need for greater and proactive integration of psychobehavioral skills within this pathway to better support those advancing to professional status and those who do not.

摘要

心理行为技能被认为有助于在人才发展途径中应对，但个人所经历的挑战的特殊性使得很难评估它们的使用和效果。本研究旨在探索一般压力源 COVID-19 封锁对人才发展途径中舞者的影响。我们对舞者被认为如何应对这一挑战以及他们使用了哪些技能（如果有）很感兴趣。十五名从业者（11 名女性，4 名男性；M_年龄 = 42.3 岁；M_经验 = 18.4 岁）在八个苏格兰表演/教育政府资助的组织中接受了采访。数据分析采用自反专题分析。调查结果揭示了对身心健康和福祉的重要感知影响，大多数参与者表示惊讶，有些人的应对方式与预期不同。良好应对被认为是利用发展机会、促进性环境因素和拥有关键心理行为特征的结果。被认为挣扎的表演者不能很好地应对教学、人际关系、身体和心理因素，这些因素因社会/环境背景而加剧，导致路径脱离/脱轨。