Preparation for Sports Retirement: Study Protocol

Preparation for Sports Retirement: Protocol for a Psychoeducational Program in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: This article presents the protocol for a randomised controlled trial designed to develop and evaluate a psychoeducational intervention aimed at preparing high-performance athletes for the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to retirement from sport. The protocol was developed through a literature review and consultations with experts in sports psychology and career transition.

Methods: The study will be conducted at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Salamanca (Spain). High-performance athletes aged 30 or older who are close to retirement or who have retired in the last five years will be recruited. Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups: the intervention group, which will undergo a psychoeducational programme consisting of 12 sessions over 3 months; and the control group, which will receive a minimum educational programme of one session. All participants will complete initial and final assessments, as well as a 3-month follow-up, collecting sociodemographic data and applying various psychological, social and health assessment instruments.

Discussion: This protocol describes a comprehensive psychoeducational intervention aimed at improving quality of life and attitudes towards retirement from sport, increasing life satisfaction, psychological flexibility, perceived social support, general health, self-efficacy and self-regulation, and reducing negative stereotypes associated with the end of a sporting career. The evidence generated will guide future interventions, policies, and educational programmes to promote a healthy, active, and satisfying transition to the post-sport stage.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Adaptation; Psychoeducation; Retirement; Psychosocial Factors; Psychology; Sport Retirement
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Education Programme; Behavioral: Psychoeducational Programme

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 26
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Salamanca, Spain, 37005
    • Castilla y León, Salamanca, Salamanca 37005

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants will be included if they are within the critical transition period, defined as:

Five years prior to sports retirement, when the first signs of preparation and emotional anticipation begin.

Five years after retirement, the stage in which identity, psychological, and professional adaptation processes are consolidated.

This interval reflects the progressive nature of adaptation to sports retirement.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Athletes presenting any of the following conditions will be excluded from the study:

Significant literacy difficulties or relevant deficits in linguistic comprehension that prevent adequate participation in the psychoeducational sessions or the completion of assessment instruments.

Severe unstabilized medical or psychological conditions that may interfere with the normal development of the program (e.g., untreated severe depressive episodes, limiting neurological disorders).

Failure to meet the inclusion criteria, specifically not being within the five-year period prior to or after sports retirement or failing to verify high-performance sports experience.

Refusal to sign the informed consent or lack of availability to regularly attend the program sessions.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Education Programme; Why: Participants will receive instructions and recommendations to facilitate a positive and healthy transition following retirement from elite sport. This minimally active intervention focuses on general guidelines for maintaining an active lifestyle and adapting to post-sport life, ensuring that the control group receives basic informational support without the structured psychoeducational sessions of the experimental group, which allows for an adequate comparison of effects. What (materials): Instructions and recommendations dossier for the program. What (procedures): Participants will be provided with a dossier containing instructions and recommendations to support the transition to sports retirement. Who will carry out the interventions: A qualified professional with experience in retirement processes will carry out the intervention. The team rotates among three professionals (psychologists specializing in retirement adjustment and a lawyer for legal aspects).	Behavioral: Education Programme; Participants will receive instructions and recommendations to facilitate a positive and healthy transition following retirement from elite sport. This minimally active intervention focuses on general guidelines for maintaining an active lifestyle and adapting to post-sport life, ensuring that the control group receives basic informational support without the structured psychoeducational sessions of the experimental group, which allows for an adequate comparison of effects.
Experimental: Psychoeducational Programme; Why: The program aims to facilitate a positive and healthy transition from elite sport to retirement. Its objectives include improving Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction, Psychological Flexibility, Perceived Social Support, Health, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation, while simultaneously mitigating stereotypes associated with aging and the end of the sports career. What (materials): All sessions will require materials such as: projector, computer, screen, presentation of content, stationery, chairs, tables and self-recording of home tasks. What (procedures): The program combines structured education with psychoeducational activities to: Understand the retirement process and its expectations; analyze the psychosocial impact of retirement; promote physical and mental health; provide training in financial planning and benefits management; support adaptation to role changes and foster social participation; facilitate the definition and monitoring of personal goals.	Behavioral: Psychoeducational Programme; The program aims to facilitate a positive and healthy transition from elite sport to retirement. Its objectives include improving Quality of Life, Life Satisfaction, Psychological Flexibility, Perceived Social Support, Health, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Regulation, while simultaneously mitigating stereotypes associated with aging and the end of the sports career.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
World Health Organization Quality of Life Measure - Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF)	Quality of life. The range of scores is from 26 to 100 points. The higher the score, the better the quality of life.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS)	Satisfaction with life. The range of scores is from 5 to 25 points. A higher score indicates that the person is generally satisfied with his/her life.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Questionnaire of Stereotypes towards Old Age (CENVE)	Stereotypes about ageing. The range of score is from 5 to 20 points. High scores indicate a high degree of belief in negative stereotypes of ageing.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
The acceptance and action questionnaire-II (AAQ-II)	Psychological inflexibility. The range of score is from 7 to 49 points. High scores indicate more psychological inflexibility.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
MOS Questionnaire of Perceived Social Support (MOS)	Perceived social support. The overall scores range from 20 to 100 points. The higher the score, the more social support the individual perceives.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)	Perceived general health. The overall scores range from 0 to 36 points. Higher scores correspond to a higher level of perceived health.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale (EAG)	Self-efficacy. Scores range from 10 to 40 points. Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-efficacy.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Self-Regulation Scale (EAR)	Self-regulation. Scores range from 7 to 35 points. Higher scores on the scale indicate a greater ability to control attention in the pursuit of goals, while lower scores may suggest difficulties in maintaining focus and attention to goals.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Retirement Attitudes Scale (EAJ)	Attitudes towards retirement. The range of scores is from 20 to 140 points. The final scores indicate more negative attitudes the higher the value obtained	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Athlete Retirement Questionnaire (ARQ)	This measure will allow assessing the degree of planning, retirement expectations, and knowledge of available resources-all predictive factors of a more satisfactory emotional and functional adjustment (Alfermann et al., 2004). This test consists of 35 items divided into three variables: reasons for retirement (11 items), difficulties encountered during retirement (11 items), and coping strategies (13 items). The questionnaire was translated into Spanish and adapted for active athletes. It shows a Cronbach's alpha of 0.87 for the ARQ retired athletes version and 0.84 for the ARQ active athletes version. The questionnaire consists of 37 and 31 items in each of its versions respectively, with closed-ended responses.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)	It consists of 10 items each. Participants must indicate how much they have felt each affect on a five-point Likert scale (from 1 = not at all or very slightly to 5 = extremely) during the specified time period. The total for each scale is the summation of the scores given on the 10 items that comprise it, ranging from 10 to 50 points, where a higher score indicates a greater presence of the specific affect. The Spanish version reports high internal consistency, with a Cronbach's α of 0.87 for positive affect and 0.88 for negative affect (Vázquez et al., 2015).	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)	It was designed to detect anxiety and depression disorders in non-psychiatric hospital settings in patients whose symptoms were not contaminated by the symptomatology of a physical illness. It consists of 14 items grouped into two subscales with 7 items each, using a Likert-type response scale ranging from 0 to 3 points. The depression subscale is composed of items focused on anhedonia. The anxiety subscale is composed of items focused on psychic manifestations. The temporal reference for the test is the previous week. For scoring, separate scores are obtained for each of the subscales, using the following cut-off points: 0-7: normal; 8-10: probable case of anxiety or depression; 11-21: case of anxiety or depression. It possesses a Cronbach's α of 0.90 for the full scale, 0.84 for the depression subscale, and 0.85 for the anxiety subscale.	Baseline; up to 24 weeks; 3 months follow up

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Salamanca

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): February 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 10, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): December 26, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 31, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 26, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: USAL sports retirement

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: They will be made available to researchers in the document repository "GREDOS" of the University of Salamanca, Spain.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be available at the end of the study.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Open access for researchers.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No