The use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) to increase the self-determined motivation and psychological well-being of triathletes.

Abstract

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and its relationship with self-determined motivation has received scant research attention despite growing interest in the motivational effects of REBT with athletes. Recent evidence suggests that reductions in irrational beliefs brought about by REBT may facilitate increases in self-determined motivation. The current study seeks to replicate and build this initial research using an idiographic single-case design to assess the effects of one-to-one REBT on the irrational beliefs, self-determined motivation, vitality, and sleep quality of four amateur triathletes. Self-report data were collected prior to, during, and after the REBT intervention. Visual analysis revealed that reductions in irrational beliefs were met with concomitant increases in self-determined motivation, vitality, and sleep quality. Social validation data supported the visual analysis findings. This current study supports and extends research by offering further advances in our understanding of the potential relationships between REBT, self-determined motivation, and athlete wellbeing.

The effects of REBT on irrational beliefs, self-determined motivation, and self-efficacy in American Football

“…Hence, if irrational beliefs represent a less self-determined, more controlled, types of motivation (introjected regulation), REBT should have the potential to improve self-determined motivation, as it focuses on disputing and restructuring irrational beliefs. Indeed, Turner and Davis (2018) found that self-determined motivation was increased in triathletes after an REBT education intervention and have subsequently repeated this finding using one-to-one REBT in a multi-participant idiographic case-study design (Davis & Turner, 2019). The potential dual benefits of REBT for reducing irrational beliefs and increasing self-determined motivation is important because behavioral actions that are controlled by external motives and can lead to dysfunctional behavior, such as wanting to, or actually, avoiding or escaping the current situation (Dryden & Branch, 2008;Ryan & Deci, 2002).…”

“…In line with similar past research (Davis & Turner, 2019), the entire American football squad (n = 25) were screened to determine which participants would take part in the REBT intervention. The screening included the German version of the Sport Motivation Scale-28 (SMS-28;Burtscher, Furtner, Sachse, & Burtscher, 2011), and the German translated version of the irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory-2 (iPBI-2; .…”

“…Dose responses have been reported in previous REBT literature (Turner, Slater, & Barker, 2015), RATIONAL SELF-TALK and therefore session-number is an important consideration. Past research has utilized three (e.g., Turner & Barker, 2013), four (e.g., Cunningham & Turner, 2016), five (Davis & Turner, 2019), and six (Turner et al, 2018b) sessions, and Turner and Barker 2014 suggest seven sessions of 30-45-minute length each. All of these lengths are in line with the extant REBT guidelines for brief intervention work (Ellis, Gordan, Neenan, & Palmer, 1997), but five sessions were selected in the current study based on a recent paper that adopted a similar idiographic single-case design targeting similar outcome variables (Davis & Turner, 2019).…”

REBT with context of basic psychological needs: RESD-A Scale

“…The notion that intrinsically, rather than extrinsically, regulated motivation is more beneficial for wellbeing is echoed in what Ellis writes here. Indeed, recent research (Davis and Turner, 2019;Turner and Davis, 2018) has demonstrated that REBT can be successfully used to promote greater self-determined motivation, intimating a positive relationship between irrational beliefs and less self-determined (more controlling) motivation.…”

“Don’t Be Stupid, Stupid!” Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques to Reduce Irrational Beliefs and Enhance Focus in a Youth Tennis Player

“…REBT delivered over three to five sessions is commonplace in the literature, and the structure of those interventions all follow the same process as that described in Table 1 (Davis & Turner, 2019;Deen, Turner, & Wong, 2017;Turner & Barker, 2013;Wood, Barker, Turner, & Sheffield, 2018). Meetings took place in a quiet corner of a local coffee shop.…”