Using Photo-Elicitation to see the Bigger Picture: A Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Male Football Coaches’ Well-Being Experiences

Chapter 5 is a combined longitudinal interpretative phenomenological analysis (LIPA) and photo-elicitation approach conducted with seven male football coaches across an entire football season. The study aimed to explore how football coaches temporally experience and make sense of well-being using auto-driven photo-elicitation. The study builds upon both those in Chapters 3 and 4 as it was acknowledged that well-being is not a static state but fluctuates in relation to proximal processes over time. Therefore, it was evident that a longitudinal exploration of well-being was necessary to capture the temporal fluctuations and changing experiences over time. Moreover, it was identified in Chapter 3 that some coaches struggled to explain their well-being and what it is, hence why an auto-driven photo-elicitation approach was employed to empower the participants and to enrich sensemaking endeavours. Findings resulted in the creation of three group experiential themes (GETs): ‘Striving to be present and true to self’; ‘Well-being sensemaking and experiences shaped by time’; and ‘Navigating the (in)stability of football, coaching and life’. All the GETs comprise of relevant subthemes which go into rich experiential detail on specific factors that influenced well-being states. The chapter communicates that ‘third spaces’, authenticity, sociohistorical events, and familial interactions shape well-being experiences over time.