Background: COVID-19 lockdown measures have had a great negative impact on the development of sports competition in China, as well as on the quality of life of football referees. This study aims to explore the impact of lockdown measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of football referees in China and its mechanism of action.
Methods: The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Effort-Reward Imbalance Scale (ERI), the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF).