Table 1 Constructs and associated questionnaires used to measure traits and states

Traits

Anxiety

STAI-Y2 [46]: A validated 20-item questionnaire.

Baseline

STAI-Y1 Best [40]: A validated 20-item questionnaire measuring state anxiety relative to the time the artist had their best performance.

Ability to cope, Frustration

Ways of Coping [47]: A validated 66-item questionnaire to identify the thoughts and acts used to cope in a specific stressful event. There are eight sub-scales in the student-sample scoring we used (problem focused, wishful thinking, detachment, seek social support, focusing on the positive, self blame, tension reduction and keeping to oneself). We chose the student sample scoring system because we felt that the problems associated with a production company environment (e.g. changeover of personnel, deadlines, new training) are more closely related to what students experience compared to a sample of stable community workers.

Baseline

Complainers, Unhappiness

Profile of Mood States (POMS) [48]: A validated 65-item questionnaire that includes subscales for tension, depression, anger, vigour, fatigue and confusion. There is considerable evidence that this global measure of mood disturbance is closely associated with the stress of athletic training [49] as well as relative success in athletics and other realms of performance with a significant physical component [30].

Baseline

States

Conflicts, Anger, Frustration

Training Distress Scale [41]: A validated 7-item 5-point Likert scale questionnaire assessing specific and general mood states. Items generally come from the Profile of Mood States [48] Other items related to the construct of anger/frustration (identified by CDS management identified as potentially important) include “bad-tempered” and “peeved”.

Weekly

Anxiety

STAI-Y1 [50]: A validated 20-item questionnaire measuring state anxiety.

Weekly

Anxiety

Single-item Likert question [51].

Daily

Self-Confidence

Single-item 7-point Likert question [52]: This question examines an artist’s confidence about their upcoming performances that day. Variations of this single item are considered valid alternatives to more time consuming assessments of self-confidence [53], and are associated with anxiety and performance [52].

Daily

Poor sleep

Single-item Likert question [49].

Daily

Physical capacity

Fatigue: We used a 1-item validated question [54].

Daily

General well-being: We used a 7-item Likert scale question (from Very very good to Very very bad) [49].

Sleep: 1-item questionnaire about the amount and quality of sleep [49].

Sickness within the last 24 hours.

Muscle soreness: 7-item Likert scale questions from Very Very Good to Very Very Sore [42, 49] for whole body, legs and arms. The responses to these items have been found to be correlated to both more comprehensive psychological questionnaires [49], biological markers of stress such as cortisol [42] and objective measures of athletic performance [55].