‘Busy as a bee’: a qualitative dual analysis of life fulfillment among Norwegian competitive recreational athlete mothers in endurance sports

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences of meaning-making relating to psychological well-being (PWB) among Norwegian competitive recreational athlete mothers while training for and competing in different endurance sports. The participants were six Norwegian women in the age range of 35–46 (M age = 39.17) years; all were university college graduates in full-time employment who had at least one child (under 18 years of age) and trained for an average of 10 hours per week. The data collection method was semi-structured interviews and a qualitative dual analysis combining thematic analysis (TA) and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used. This decision was made for obtaining a complex, multi-layered description in both breadth and depth of competitive recreational athlete mothers’ sport experiences. TA resulted in creation of four themes: (a) motivation; (b) sportswoman; (c) body and health; and (d) PWB. The analysis revealed how PWB explained through life fulfillment was pre-eminent in the participants’ sport experiences. The IPA of the meaning-making relating to the life fulfillment theme displayed the importance of a) My game and no shame, b) Solution-focused and adaptable, and c) A sporting life is a fulfilling life. The dual analysis enabled us to unpack different possible meanings of the different PWB components that seem to play an important role in the lifeworld of Norwegian competitive recreational athlete mothers. Future research should continue to make use of various qualitative analytic approaches to investigate key psychosocial aspects of competitive recreational athlete mothers’ sport experiences.