Doing Sport Psychology: Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing in Professional Soccer

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of a personal-disclosure mutual-sharing (PDMS) intervention on team cohesion and communication among 21 male professional soccer players from a top division club within the United Kingdom (UK) before an important match in the latter stages of a domestic cup competition. Data from the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) and the British Scale for Effective Communication in Team Sports (BRSECTS) showed no statistically significant changes in cohesion or positive and negative communication from pre to postintervention (i.e., pretest to posttest); yet the team performed above their expectations in the important match only to lose in a penalty shoot-out. Social validation data further revealed that most players felt the intervention was worthwhile and benefitted the team by enhancing closeness, understanding of teammates, and communication. We discuss strategies and guidance for sport psychologists considering a PDMS intervention in the context of professional sport teams. Future research directions considering the effects of PDMS with other professional and youth UK sports, collective efficacy, and social identity is outlined.

Not the End of the World: The Effects of Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) on Irrational Beliefs in Elite Soccer Academy Athletes

“…In this paper we focus on the delivery of REBT in an applied context, and therefore endeavored to adhere to a field-based scientific design as practically possible (Pain & Harwood, 2009). A pretest-posttest design with follow-up measurement was adopted, similar to other applied research employing single-session interventions (e.g., Windsor, Barker, & McCarthy, 2011). Self-reported irrational beliefs data were collected at three time-points; once prior to the workshop (pretest), once immediately after (posttest), and once six weeks following that (follow-up).…”

“…We aimed to report the use of an REBT workshop with academy athletes and its effects on irrational beliefs, and did not place emphasis on devising a robust research design (e.g., Anderson, Miles, Mahoney, & Robinson, 2002). While the one group intervention study design we adopted is ecologically valid and has been previously used in research assessing single session interventions with elite athletes (e.g., Windsor et al, 2011), the use of a control group would have been a stronger study design. Future research should employ experimental and quasi-experimental designs to help rule out rival hypotheses (Shadish, Cooke, & Campbell, 2002), and could perhaps stagger the REBT workshop across different groups (e.g., Barker, McCarthy, Jones, & Moran, 2011).…”

Consulting on Tour: A Dual-Phase Personal-Disclosure Mutual-Sharing Intervention and Group Functioning in Elite Youth Cricket

“…Threats to internal validity 21 could exist when using a one-group design so it is possible that positive findings 22 could be artifacts of history, repeated testing, or maturation rival hypotheses and 23 therefore future researchers should draw on experimental (e.g., pretest posttest) and 24 quasi-experimental designs (including the non-equivalent dependent variables and thepattern matching non-equivalent dependent variables designs) which rule out rival 1 hypotheses (Shadish, Cooke, & Campbell, 2002). In the present study we would have 2 preferred to have included a control group to reduce threats to internal validity, 3 however the applied context of working with one elite cricket academy made this 4 logistically challenging (e.g., Windsor et al, 2011). Indeed, in the context of elite and 5 professional sport it may be difficult to see how the use of control groups could be 6 ethically employed with 'real' athletes performing 'real' sport tasks in 'real' sport 7 settings.…”

Culture Change in Elite Sport Performance Teams: Examining and Advancing Effectiveness in the New Era

“…Reflecting their reported ability to shape the way in which group members perceive and behave (Romand & Pantaléon, 2007;Windsor, Barker & McCarthy, 2011) the most applicable areas of current knowledge appear to be leadership and team building.…”