Árbitros de futebol: um estudo das variáveis saúde mental, sono, estresse e burnout no contexto da COVID-19

Abstract

Due to the return of sports activities during COVID-19 pandemic, soccer referees had to face several challenges after new routines in their professional scope. The impacts of these new routines may have reduced the quality of mental health and sleep, as well as intensified th e referees' perceptions concerning to stress and burnout levels. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the variables mental health, sleep, stress and burnout in federated soccer referees at the beginning and end of the sports season under the context of COVID-19. To better understand these variables, the objectives of this study are also: (a) To propose reference tables for the frequency of perception relative to the variables for federated soccer referees at the beginning and at the end of the sports within COVID-19 pandemic; (b) Categorize football referees evaluated in the reference tables considering variables at the beginning and end of the sporting season under the context of COVID-19; (c) Compare the perception on mental health by football referees between the two periods of the sports season in the context of COVID-19; (d) Compare their perception between two periods of the sports season of sleep (sleep complaints, drowsiness and sleep quality) of football referees in the context of COVID-19; (e) Compare the perception between the two periods of the sports season of the stress of football referees in the context of COVID-19; (f) To compare the perception between the two periods of the sports season of burnout of soccer referees. The sample has 63 soccer referees from Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF) which acted in competitions in 2021. For data collection, the following instruments were used: (a) sociodemographic questionnaire; (b) Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12); (c) sleep complaints questionnaire, (d) Epworth sleepiness scale (ESE-BR); (e) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), (F) stress test for team sports referees (TEPA); and (G) Burnout Inventory for Referees (BIR). For data analysis, descriptive statistics composed of the mean, standard deviation and tertile were used. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, bootstrapping procedure, T test, effect size and Conbrach's Alpha were used in the inferential analyses. In these analyses, the following were used: SPSS® (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 26.0, with a significance level of p < 0.05, and Gpower® 3.1.9.2. Reference tables were built for the variables mental health, sleep, stress and burnout for federated soccer referees at the beginning and end of the season. As for the individual classification of soccer referees, the main finding of the reference tables refers to the percentage of referees with high levels for: mental health (42.85%), sleep (sleep complaints: 39.09%; ESE-BR: 38.09%; IQSP: 38.09%), stress (biological stress: 34.92%; social stress: 33.33%; and psychological stress: 33.33%) and burnout (PEE: 42.85%; RSS: 38.09%; and DEP: 50.79%). No statistically significant difference was found regarding the perception of the variables mental health, sleep, stress and burnout at the beginning and end of the temporary period. It is concluded that the referees evaluated did not present changes regarding the variables mental health, sleep, stress and burnout in the sports season under the context of COVID-19.