Juliette Maurin, Véronique Boudreault

Sport retirement involves many changes in terms of identity, body image and daily structure. These changes may contribute to increased vulnerability to disordered eating and exercise addiction among former student-athletes, notably when the established support structures characteristic of the student-athlete environment are no longer sustained during the retirement process (e.g., supervised training plans). This qualitative study aimed to (1) explore how former student-athletes experience symptoms of disordered eating and exercise addiction and (2) explore the evolution of these symptoms across the sport-career trajectory, including the pre-retirement phase, the transition period, and the post-retirement phase. Approximately 10 to 12 former varsity student-athletes from different sports will participate in semi-structured individual interviews. These participants will have been invited based on their response to a survey from a previous study on disordered eating and exercise addiction among former student-athletes, using purposive sampling to ensure heterogeneity in profiles and sport backgrounds. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis will allow for both the exploration of the specificity of participants’ experiences and the identification of themes common to particular symptoms or profiles. From a research perspective, this study will help fill some gaps in our knowledge of exercise addiction and clarify their co-occurrence and perceived functional links with disordered eating. From a clinical perspective, this study will help to identify and better prevent exercise addiction and disordered eating during both the sport career and the retirement transition. Periods conducive to the development of these symptoms can also be explored to target appropriate interventions and transition-support practices.