Athlete-counselling competencies of applied sport psychology practitioners and the role of mindfulness in athlete-centred service delivery
Abstract
Enquiry into the competencies associated with modern-day sport psychology practice is vital to inform and safeguard the emergent (professional) status of applied sport psychology (ASP) practitioners, especially in terms of questioning the relevance of training, education and regulation standards (Fletcher & Maher, 2013:266). Despite the efficacy of mindfulness as a means of fostering therapeutic endeavours or a proven intervention in performance enhancement in the sporting environment (Aherne et al., 2011:177; Bernier et al., 2009:329; Gardner & Moore, 2007:67; Hall, 2013:233), it has not yet been verified as an underlying competency in effective sport psychology practice.
The overriding aim of this study was to identify the essential competencies in contemporary sport psychology practice within a developed context (regulated, as in the UK) and a developing context (unregulated, as in SA). Subsidiary aims were to: (1) extrapolate and contextualise the parallels between Eastern meditation-derived mindfulness and Rogers’s humanistic person-centred (PC) approach; (2) determine the significance of mindfulness processes in contemporary sport psychology practice, and; (3) determine the relationship between ASP practitioners’ dispositional mindfulness and the quality of the consulting relationship (athlete-centred service delivery). These tributary aims were intentionally formulated in an attempt to substantiate the underlying meaning and relevance of mindfulness regarding what is considered as competent practice in modern-day sport psychology. Consequently, the study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research approach.
Parallels between meditation-derived mindfulness and Rogers’s humanistic PC approach were contextualised by means of a conceptual and evaluative literature review of the PC framework’s theoretical underpinnings in relation to definitive descriptions of mindfulness (see chapter 3). In this way, the fundamentals of mindfulness within the core conditions of PC therapy were explored and verified.
Nine expert ASP practitioners (N=4 from SA; N=5 from UK), who were purposefully selected, participated in semi-structured interviews (in person) relating to the identification of essential
competencies in modern-day sport psychology practice (qualitative phase of the study - see chapter 4). Two participants were female and seven were male, of which four were registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), four with the United Kingdom’s Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and one with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES). The interview recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed according to Tesch’s (1990:142-145) eight-step thematic content analysis method.
ASP practitioners’ estimations on the worth of mindfulness in sport psychology practice (see chapter 5) were distilled from the data generated by the qualitative interviews which originally explored the essential competencies in contemporary practice (primary aim). An explorative interpretative paradigm was considered for reflecting participants’ contextualised responses exposed through their personal perception and subjective meaning. The transcribed data were subjected to a thematic content analysis (steered by the phases outlined by Braun & Clarke, 2006) in which the primary investigator adopted a realist method (with the intent of examining the semantic meaning of participants’ responses).
A total of one hundred and thirty ASP practitioners in SA and UK from a compiled list were individually contacted (via emails and telephone) with a request to participate in the assessment of the relationship between ASP practitioners’ dispositional mindfulness and the quality of the consulting relationship (person-centred service delivery) (quantitative phase of study - see chapter 5). Initially, practitioners were prompted to solicit the participation of three distinct members of their clientele in an attempt to measure the quality of the consulting relationship from the viewpoints of both the practitioners and their respective clients (practitioner-client dyads). Ultimately twenty-five ASP practitioners successfully completed the online demographic sheet and relevant online questionnaires (FFMQ-SF & WAI-SRT) after separate consultations with three distinct clients (N=75). Participants (practitioners) were reluctant to solicit or grant the researcher access to any of the considered clients. Consequently, the investigation was restricted to reporting the practitioners’ viewpoints on the consulting relationship. The collected quantitative measurements were captured on a computer and analysed using the IBM SPSS version 22.0. Correlations between the total scores and the subscale scores of the two questionnaires were determined by means of Spearman’s rank-order correlation. The Mann-Whitney U-test was employed to determine significant differences between practitioners who participate in mindfulness practices (for at least six months) and those who do not. Reliability coefficients for the employed measures were determined and generally high scores were recorded with Cronbach’s Alpha ranging between .56 and .89.
Results of the investigation identified a marked overlap between meditation-derived mindfulness approach and the humanistic PC approach of Rogers. Based on the shared ideology of the two phenomena, mindfulness was proposed as an ultimate mechanism to cultivate, harmonise and deepen essential therapist qualities associated with PC therapy. Furthermore, results have emphasised the importance of practitioners’ character (relational and dependable), a client-centred focus during consultation, an accomplished counselling skills-set (restorative and facilitative skills), and multidisciplinary expertise (within the fields of psychology, sport and sport science) in contemporary practice. The value of mindfulness in present-day ASP was verified by practitioners who claimed its positive impact on their ability to accurately attune to present-moment experiences with clients, and demonstrate empathetic understanding of their clients’ unique needs during consultation. An additional discovery was that practitioner mindfulness promotes the establishment of strong consulting relationships with clients. The latter was inferred from a significant positive relationship (p ≤ 0.05) which was noted between practitioners’ dispositional mindfulness and summated scores on their perceptions of the quality of the consulting-relationship (with three of their clients in mind). Interscale correlations (p ≤ 0.05) also revealed that the ability of sport psychology practitioners to observe, label (describe) and not react (objective indifference to thoughts and feelings) were positively associated with the quality of the therapeutic bond, agreement on goals, as well as agreement on task and goals, with clients during consultation respectively.
It can be concluded from the results of this study that certain skills prerequisites (such as experience in and knowledge of sport) along with identifiable behavioural indicators (personal character) form a noticeable quota of the endorsed criteria for accepting applicants into ASP training and practice. An interdisciplinary training model in ASP, with acquired competence in both kinesiology and psychology-based training, should become the recognised standard in the training and development of practitioners, especially in honing the inclusive ability geared to client-centred service delivery. An additional conclusion established that meditation-derived mindfulness forms not only a cornerstone, but also acts as the process guide which promotes the core conditions for effective PC (client-centred) therapy. Moreover, is an increased consideration of – or dedication to – the development of ASP practitioners’ mindfulness levels merited, since it heralds the capacity to deliver effective sport psychology services and stimulate the formation of constructive consulting relationships with clients.
Collections
- Health Sciences [2060]