Overall, this work provided a number of implications for future research and applied practice that are addressed in this thesis. To complete the work, a different perspective and approach was taken, using an online questionnaire to investigate perceived performance factors and stress management strategies utilized by sport psychologists and performance coaches in esports. Here, a variety of stressors, perceived stress responses, and coping strategies were identified. To build on this initial understanding of stress in esports, a qualitative study was conducted that explored the subjective experiences of professional players.
The results indicated that playing esports in competitive settings–in contrast to non-competitive settings–seems to be related to psychophysiological stress responses, and also highlighted a number of theoretical and methodological limitations with research in this area. Following this, a systematic review of the literature on stress in non-competitive and competitive esports was performed. To this end, this work began by addressing why and how sport and exercise psychology could research esports. Driven by the need to inform evidence-based intervention strategies for performance and health promotion in esports, this thesis aimed to provide a starting point for future research on esports and, in particular, psychophysiological stress in esports.
