Supporting Learning Sustainability in University Sport: Effects of Structured Sports Massage on Mental Toughness and Psychological Well-Being
Keywords:
sports massage; mental toughness; psychological well-being; student-athletes; higher education; learning support; recovery interventionsAbstract
High-performing university student-athletes navigate rigorous academic settings that require balancing strenuous physical training, psychological stress, and scholarly obligations. In higher education, recovery techniques are widely acknowledged as both performance-support mechanisms and developmental interventions that affect psychological preparation, adaptive learning, and sustained engagement. Although sports massages are commonly used in elite athletic programs, their impact on learning-related psychological outcomes remains insufficiently investigated. This research investigated the impact of a systematic sports massage intervention on mental resilience and psychological health among high-performance student-athletes in a university setting. This research employed a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-assessments administered to an intervention group and a comparison group without random assignment. A total of 32 student-athletes who met the inclusion criteria were recruited through purposive sampling. Participants were allocated to either a standardized sports massage intervention or a sham light-touch control condition. Mental resilience and psychological health were evaluated using validated measures. An exploratory simple linear regression analysis was performed to assess the intervention's effects within the treatment group. The results demonstrated a statistically significant moderate effect due to sports massage on mental toughness (30.4% of the variance) and a substantial effect on psychological well-being (64.1% of the variance). The findings indicate that systematic sports massage significantly enhances emotional control, perceived readiness, and adaptive psychological functioning in high-performance student-athletes. The study demonstrates that sports massage extends beyond physical recovery, serving as a psychologically supportive intervention in university sports settings, with implications for enhancing learning sustainability, student well-being, and comprehensive athlete support in higher education.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.3.6
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