Influence of Basic Psychological Needs over Burnout in the Sport Context

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is correct, it meets the academic requirements of a scientific article. The reviewer has doubts about the relevance of its inclusion in this magazine, could they justify its publication?
On the other hand, only a question regarding the procedure:
It seems that the researchers administered the questionnaire, is it correct? To each of the participants? Explain better, if it was self-administered, if they were with them while they were filling it out, in a specific place? Did everyone on the team fill it out at once? Could they see each other's responses and contaminate them by social desirability for example? Etc. Please explain the procedure better.
Were all the surveys delivered at the same time? Was the fatigue bias taken into account when completing so many questionnaires at the same time?
For how long were surveys collected? In what period (to know if important competitions such as "league", "King's Cup" and the like could influence the data? How long has it been since the data collection period began? until it ends (weeks ?, months? years?)?
Why 15 minutes before training?

To finish, perhaps it would have been more interesting to demonstrate if there are different models based on sociodemographic characteristics such as age or type of sport (individual vs. collective), which would have given more weight in a study for this impact.

Author Response

The paper is correct, it meets the academic requirements of a scientific article. The reviewer has doubts about the relevance of its inclusion in this magazine, could they justify its publication?

The article analyse BPN with all subdimensions of autonomy and burnout. The topic of it match with the journal. Below I show you some articles that deal with the selected theme in sustainability:

Sánchez-Miguel, P.A.; Vaquero-Solís, M.; Sánchez-Oliva, D.; Pulido, J.J.; López-Gajardo, M.A.; Tapia-Serrano, M.A. Promoting Healthy Lifestyle through Basic Psychological Needs in Inactive Adolescents: A Protocol Study from Self-Determination Approach. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5893

Cardella, G.M.; Hernández-Sánchez, B.R.; Sánchez-García, J.C. Basic Psychological Needs as a Motivational Competence: Examining Validity and Measurement Invariance of Spanish BPNSF Scale. Sustainability 2020, 12, 5422.

Trigueros, R.; Mínguez, L.A.; González-Bernal, J.J.; Aguilar-Parra, J.M.; Padilla, D.; Álvarez, J.F. Validation of the Satisfaction Scale of Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education with the Incorporation of the Novelty in the Spanish Context. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6250.

On the other hand, only a question regarding the procedure: It seems that the researchers administered the questionnaire, is it correct? To each of the participants? Explain better, if it was self-administered, if they were with them while they were filling it out, in a specific place? Did everyone on the team fill it out at once? Could they see each other's responses and contaminate them by social desirability for example? Etc. Please explain the procedure better.

We appreciate the suggestion, the explanation of the procedure has been modified to make it more explained and complete. In page 4, we added the following:

“This was all carried out during the 15 min prior to the usual training session, five minutes for explanations and ten minutes to fill in the instrument. All this in order not to affect the training time programmed by their coach for that day. Before to complete the questionnaires, participants were informed of the objective of study, how to respond to it and all athletes (or the sports tutor in the case of minors) had signed an informed consent form and approved to participate in the research. Each athlete completed the questionnaire privately and individually, generally separated from the training group. The data collection process lasted two years and was carried out throughout a competitive season for each sport modality.”

Were all the surveys delivered at the same time? Was the fatigue bias taken into account when completing so many questionnaires at the same time? For how long were surveys collected? In what period (to know if important competitions such as "league", "King's Cup" and the like could influence the data? How long has it been since the data collection period began? until it ends (weeks ?, months? years?)? Why 15 minutes before training?

We appreciate the comment. The time of administration of the questionnaires and their justification has been added. Given that the three surveys total 47 multiple choice questions, we consider that it takes about 10 minutes for answering. The participation in different sports competitions can influence the psychological state of the athletes, when presenting a research with a transversal format it is difficult to appreciate these changes in the athletes. We appreciate and take into account your consideration for future studies with a longitudinal character.

To finish, perhaps it would have been more interesting to demonstrate if there are different models based on sociodemographic characteristics such as age or type of sport (individual vs. collective), which would have given more weight in a study for this impact.

Dear reviewer, for reasons of time and space we have included the invariance in the study referring to the sport modality. So that can make a greater contribution to the socio-demographic characteristics. We appreciate the recommendation, and it will be considered for future researches. We also made a new table that clear and offer more information of this model, in the page 9.

Reviewer 2 Report

I appreciate having the opportunity to review the manuscript entitled “Influence of Basic Psychological Needs over Burnout in the Sport Context”.

[1] Introduction

- As you already knew, the introduction section is one of the most important parts to not only draw attentions of readers but also provide guidelines for them to facilitate a clear understanding of the paper. So, I propose to emphasize the justification for why this study should be conducted.

[2] Discussion

- Please provide more profound theoretical and practical implications about your research.

- The main limitation of this study design is not mentioned.

- The authors should demonstrate the strengths of the study.

I wish these comments may help you to improve your paper. Good luck.

Author Response

Introduction. As you already knew, the introduction section is one of the most important parts to not only draw attentions of readers but also provide guidelines for them to facilitate a clear understanding of the paper. So, I propose to emphasize the justification for why this study should be conducted.

Thank you very much for your contribution. More emphasis has been placed on the justification for conducting the investigation, in the page 3 with the following text:

There is a recent interest in burnout and its evolution over the years and its attempt to reduce its occurrence (Davis, Stenling, Gustafsson, Appleby and Davis; 2020; Eklund and DeFreese, 2020), and this study offer other perspectives of the theory. Few evidences have been shown so far that speak about the relationships between BPN satisfaction and burnout, but it is needed to use all autonomy subdimensions, taking into account that BPN frustration should be treated as a concept independent of satisfaction. For that reason, the present study use an original description of these relationships in order to offer empirical support to the theories that give rise to this syndrome.

Discussion. Please provide more profound theoretical and practical implications about your research.

We appreciate your suggestion; the text has highlighted the implications that such work may have in the field of research, in the page 11, with the following text:

Finally, the main applications that this investigation may have should be highlighted. The results help within prevention and detection of burnout syndrome, especially at early ages. In addition, there are few theoretical models to explain athlete burnout with different sub-dimensions of autonomy taken into account, and BPN frustration uses to be treated as a unilateral concept.

The main limitation of this study design is not mentioned.

Dear reviewer, we appreciate your contribution, the main limitation of this work has been highlighted in the text, in the page 10, with the following:

One of the main limitations found carrying out this work is its transversal nature of this work. Several authors have reported changes in the different study variables over seasons or a temporary period in sports (DeFreese and Smith, 2014; Quested and Duda, 2011). In addition, part of the data has been collected others during the competition season, so the psychological state that has been changing. Therefore, it would be interesting to explore the changes produced in the levels of satisfaction and frustration of BPN throughout a sports season and how their influence on burnout varies.

The authors should demonstrate the strengths of the study.

We realised of that with your suggestion number 2 and we add in the text, in the page 11, with the following text:

Finally, the main applications that this investigation may have should be highlighted. The results help within prevention and detection of burnout syndrome, especially at early ages. In addition, there are few theoretical models to explain athlete burnout with different sub-dimensions of autonomy taken into account, and BPN frustration uses to be treated as a unilateral concept.