Psychological Skills Training for the Blind Athlete: A Pilot Program

Hanrahan, Stephanie J.; Grove, J. Robert; Lockwood, R.J.

doi:10.1123/apaq.7.2.143

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Blind athletes, in particular, may be at a disadvantage without this cue. In addition, Hanrahan, Grove, and Lockwood () found that the majority of athletes with visual impairments who participated in a pilot psychological skills training programme reported that it was difficult to “shut their brains off” during relaxation. Self‐talk could potentially be a greater distraction for these athletes than for sighted athletes.…”

Section: Practical Considerations For Working With Athletes With Sensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Skills Training for Athletes With Disabilities

Hanrahan

2015

Australian Psychologist

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This article provides practical tips for psychologists working with athletes with disabilities. Minor modifications are potentially needed when teaching psychological skills to athletes with physical disabilities. For example, the tension phase of progressive muscular relaxation may be problematic for individuals with cerebral palsy, progressive muscular relaxation scripts may need to be modified to account for missing or inactive limbs, and the presence or absence of prostheses should be taken into account when doing body awareness or imagery exercises. Fewer adaptations than may be expected are required in terms of content of psychological skills training for athletes with sensory impairments (e.g., individuals who are blind are able to use imagery). Generally, few changes are needed in the content of psychological skills training programmes when working with athletes with physical, intellectual, or sensory disabilities. The main adaptations typically required when working within disabled sport relate to communication issues. Patience and creativity aid work with individuals with physical disabilities that affect their speech (e.g., cerebral palsy) and athletes with intellectual disabilities. Excellence in visual communication (e.g., Power Point, text messaging, video, white boards) is required when working with people with hearing impairments, and expertise in auditory communication (e.g., vivid and accurate descriptions, audio recordings) is needed when working with individuals with visual impairments.

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Section: Practical Considerations For Working With Athletes With Sensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Skills Training for Athletes With Disabilities

Hanrahan

2015

Australian Psychologist

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“…Hanrahan (1990) presented observations from six sport psychology seminars involving blind, hearing impaired, intellectually disabled, cerebral palsied, and amputee athletes from a variety of sports. The description of a pilot psychological skills training program for blind and visually impaired athletes by Hanrahan, Grove, and Lockwood (1990) provided suggestions for adaptations needed when working with blind athletes, but lacked any systematic assessment of the program. Although focusing on environmental stressors, Banks (1992) provided recommendations for maximising athletic performance at the Barcelona Paralympics.…”

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confidence: 99%

Psychological skills training for competitive wheelchair and amputee athletes

Hanrahan

1995

Australian Psychologist

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he purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a mental skills training program for athletes with physical T disabilities. A group of six internationally competitive wheelchair and amputee athletes participated in a mental skills training program which was developed on the basis of their self-repofied psychological skills. The program included goal setting, controlling arousal levels, developing concentration and attention skills, imagery, self-talk, self-confidence, competition preparation, and controlling problem situations.Taking into account changes in knowledge and use of the various skills, the mental skills sessions on imagery, positive self-talk, and controlling problem situations had the greatest impact on the subjects from a purely quantitative point of view. On a qualitative basis, it was found that abdominal breathing exercises provided concentration and relaxation benefits for athletes with no use of abdominal muscles, that personalised progressive muscular relaxation tapes may be beneficial for some, and that whether or not an amputee is wearing the prosthesis influences their imagery skills.

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“…In this context, it is pertinent to enunciate some characteristics of excellent counselling namely, genuineness, confidence, respect, empathy, positive attitude, positive emotional support, social perception, effective listening and communication (Henschen, 2005). However, in the field of disability sport additional attributes are required including: i) specific knowledge on the type and degree of the disability because it may require some adaptations on the psychological techniques (Hanrahan et al, 1990;Travis & Sachs, 1991); ii) open-mind, flexibility and creativity to adapt methods and instruments to assess psychological skills (Hanrahan, 1998); and iii) avoid negative attitudes of protectionism or prejudice about the abilities of the athletes to improve their psychological skills (Gorley, et al, 2002;Hanrahan, 1998).…”

Section: Wwwccsenetorg/ijpsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hanraham, Grove, and Lockwood (1990) recommended that someone with knowledge in sport psychology and with practical experience with athletes with disabilities should conduct the implementation of PST for athletes with visual impairment. The authors believe in the ability of the coach to develop such a type of training after consulting a sport psychologist, regarding the selection of the content and structure of the program.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elite Disability Sport Coaches’ Views on Sport Psychology

Bastos¹,

Corredeira²,

Probst³

et al. 2014

IJPS

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Although the coach is a key element in the psychological preparation of the athletes, few is known about what coaches from disability sport context think about the importance of psychological preparation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore: 1) the educational background of disability sport coaches, 2) the perceptions of the coaches on the importance of psychological preparation for their athletes, and 3) the opinions of the coaches regarding the role of sport psychologists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Portuguese elite disability sport coaches (n=10; male=8 and female=2; swimming =4, track and field=2, boccia=3 and rowing=1) included in the Paralympic Project London 2012. Standard qualitative methodology and content analysis were used to analyse the data. The participants revealed an educational background in sport sciences and in sport psychology. A high status of sport psychology and psychological preparation also emerged from the data. Full receptiveness to work with sport psychologists was exhibited, although some participants mentioned barriers to sport psychologists' intervention (e.g., coach awareness, athlete receptiveness, time, finances). In general, the findings of this study highlighted the importance of sport psychology in Portuguese disability sport.

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Psychological Skills Training for the Blind Athlete: A Pilot Program

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Psychological Skills Training for Athletes With Disabilities

Psychological Skills Training for Athletes With Disabilities

Psychological skills training for competitive wheelchair and amputee athletes

Elite Disability Sport Coaches’ Views on Sport Psychology

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