Global practitioner assessment and management of mental fatigue and mental recovery in high‐performance sport: A need for evidence‐based best‐practice guidelines

Background Mental fatigue and mental recovery have gained scientific attention in relation to sporting performance, yet best practice assessment and management methods are lacking. A greater understanding of current knowledge and practices in high‐performance sport are necessary. Objective To understand the contemporary knowledge, beliefs, monitoring processes, management strategies, perceived responsibility, sources of evidence, and challenges, when assessing the mental fatigue and mental recovery of athletes in high‐performance sport. Methods A mixed‐methods survey approach obtained information from 156 multi‐disciplinary high‐performance sport practitioners. Descriptive outputs were reported and potential differences between key concepts were detected using Wilcoxon‐signed rank analysis. Thematic analysis interpreted open‐text responses. Results Only 11.5% and 5.1% of respondents indicated they were “very” knowledgeable about mental fatigue and mental recovery, respectively. Knowledge (p