Push for postpartum support in sport: a healthy fit for researcher

By Mary Bolling

When Boden Tighe began his PhD with CQUniversity in late 2020, it was a chance to work alongside some of Australia’s elite and emerging sports stars.

The mission: to establish best-practice recommendations that support the return of elite female athletes to high-performance sport after having a baby.

Working alongside Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) athletes, coaching and administrative staff, the Gold Coast researcher was a year into the work when Brisbane was named host city of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With the announcement, Boden’s project gained an extra – unofficial – goal. 

“Within the sporting community, there is so much interest around athletes becoming mums, and then with them returning to competition in a way that’s healthy,  supported, and ready to be their best,” he explained.

“But there was a real knowledge gap about how athletes should return to sport after having a baby, and what supports are needed to  ensure a return is successful.

“Australian athletes will be making these career and family decisions in the leadup to the Olympics  on their home turf – and our research is a really meaningful part of how Australia will take its best team to 2032.”

Boden’s initial work captured the growing number of elite female athletes who compete as mothers – for instance, 34 athletes were mothers at the Tokyo Games, up from just 16 in 2016, while the most recent Paris Olympics and Paralympics was the first to offer childcare and breastfeeding spaces.  

In part, Boden’s research now informs new best-practice recommendations from the QAS and Australian Institute of Sport, for how Australian sporting organisations can support elite athletes, from pre-conception and pregnancy, to post-partum and parenting. 

Boden wrote the recommendations with his research supervisor and CQU Health Sciences Associate Professor Melanie Hayman, and fellow CQU PhD candidate Jasmine Titova.

The evidence-based recommendations build on the experiences of more than 60 athletes, coaches, high-performance support staff and medical professionals who participated in the research – and Boden says hearing directly from athletes was the highlight of his research.

“From their own experience, they raised so many  issues – even just simple things, like no change-tables at their training facility!” he said.

“It goes back to the perception that athletes retire from sport once they’ve had a baby – but we know that’s not the case, and improving support will change the perception, too.”

A life-long sport enthusiast, Boden hopes the impacts of the recommendations will soon be visible to all Australian sports fans.

“I watch sport now, and when I know an athlete is also a mother, I have a whole new perspective about what she’s had to overcome to return to competition physically, and also to manage the schedules of training, and competition timelines, all around what her baby needs too – it’s incredible!” he said.

“As these recommendations are implemented, I’m excited to see the outcomes of elite sport recognising and becoming more inclusive of mother-athletes  – like you see areas for partners and coaches at tennis events, wouldn’t it be great if Brisbane 2032 had dedicated spaces for the kids of athletes, and the wider family?” 

Boden grew up in Rockhampton, beginning his study journey with CQU’s Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science, and has continued to work in health and fitness while doing his PhD. 

It was actually his soccer-playing sister that helped shape his sporting and research passion. 

“I actually started looking into guidelines for sport during pregnancy when my sister was pregnant, and trying to work out how she could stay in her sport – that’s when I realised there was so little policy or even advice, and also how I connected with my supervisor, Associate Professor Mel Hayman.”

Assoc Prof Hayman is a world-leading researcher in exercise and physical activity during pregnancy and post-partum, and regularly advises national and international sporting bodies on support for athletes in motherhood. 

Boden is seeking to finish his PhD in the next year, and hopes to work in health policy.

“I want to apply what I've learnt, and take this approach into the public health system, working with policy and programs for healthier communities … in a way that’s inclusive, evidence-informed and positively impacts us all!” he said. 

The CQUniversity research was funded by the Australian Government, the AIS and QAS, and the CQUniversity Elevate Scholarship Scheme, explore the recommendations here.

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