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Establishing and enhancing standards of practice is important in any profession, and particularly so in a new and emerging domain such as sport psychology. Accordingly, this thesis draws on literature from teaching, medicine, and parallel disciplines such as clinical and counselling psychology to propose a Professional Judgment and Decision Making (PJDM) approach to the evaluation, reflective practice, and training of applied sport psychologists. Methods and mechanisms already utilised in these more established professions are considered alongside empirical data, generated from long-term programmes of sport psychology consultancy, as potential means to further enhance the performance of professionals in this developing field. As such, the thesis highlights gaps in current process, proposes an original conceptualisation of practice, and illustrates the possible outcomes and implications of this PJDM approach. In addition, the emergent PJDM principles are illustrated in practice through a reflection-in-action case study, and trained and evaluated in novice applied sport psychology practitioners as a basis for the effective development of PJDM expertise.

The aim of this research is to further enhance our understanding of the construct mental toughness in professional rugby union teams. While mental toughness is synonymous with sporting success, considerable ambiguity exists concerning what it actually is, how it is developed and, most pertinently in the demanding environment of professional rugby, how it can be elicited on a game-to-game basis. To achieve these aims, an initial semi-structured interview-based study with nine elite players and three elite coaches explored their understanding of mental toughness. The results highlight that mental toughness involves player-specific processes and coaching processes along with an emphasis upon group processes. Building on these results, a second interview-based study was conducted with five super-elite coaches. The results from this cohort reaffirm the importance of group identity in consistently eliciting mental toughness. The results highlight the integral role that the coach plays in challenging group standards and in fostering togetherness and respect. Moreover, the results identify processes that coaches may utilise in developing, integrating and harnessing mentally tough leaders, the alignment of formal leaders and, crucially, how coaches communicate mentally tough messages to their players via the media. In conclusion, in order to elicit mental toughness in rugby union the coach needs to manage the multiple messages within the team environment that enhances group identity and the motivation to act mentally tough. In this regard, in order to elicit mental toughness in a rugby team on a consistent basis, it is essential that the coach is aware of, and manages, individual processes, coaching processes and, most importantly, the wider environment and social milieu. This requires coaches to create an aligned leadership and to manage the multiple messages that players receive, including those from the media, in order to create a mentally tough mindset.

Structured sports are the most common activity in which youth participate. Research links sport participation to positive and negatives outcomes; however few studies have investigated the processes that affect positive and negative experiences. Considering that enjoyment, motivational climate, and coach behaviors are factors that are known to affect participation, it is of interest to determine if these factors can contribute to increased positive experiences for youth sport participants. Study 1 investigated the psychometric properties of the Youth Experience Survey 2.0 with a group of athletes. This instrument was originally designed to investigate experiences across a range of structured activities; however its psychometric properties had yet to be reported. Results of confirmatory factor analyses did not show strong psychometric support for the instrument. Follow-up exploratory analyses resulted in the instrument being modified and renamed the Youth Experience Survey for Sport. The revised scaled showed improved psychometric properties compared to the original instrument which makes it a preferred tool for investigation of personal development of youth sport participants. Study 2 explored the role of enjoyment and motivational climate on the personal development of team sport athletes. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships. Results demonstrated that positive experiences in sport were most strongly predicted by affiliation with peers, self-referenced competency, effort expenditure, and a task climate. Negative experiences were most strongly predicted by an ego climate and other-referenced competency. Study 3 examined differences on personal development and motivational climate for athletes in programs where coaches received positive youth development training and athletes in programs that did not provide training to coaches. Results showed that personal and social skills were higher for athletes of trained coaches. Cognitive skills and task climate did not reach significance but can be considered as marginal effects. Results from these studies provide researchers with an instrument to measure positive youth development in sport. In addition, results demonstrate that enjoyment, motivational climate, and coach training are important factors in promoting personal development. Youth sport program administrators that wish to incorporate positive development in their programs should consider these findings. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-29 13:19:00.872

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In completing this thesis I am attempting to answer the broad question of what golfers should do with their time on the course when they are not executing their shots. Surprisingly, and considering the amount of research within golf that has considered how performance can best be optimised, either by focusing on the development of technique, mental skills, physiological factors, or tactical considerations, this has remained an under-researched area with few authors considering the potential impact of these time periods. In attempting to answer this broad question I present five, substantive chapters, one desktop study, one chapter which explains and justifies the chosen research philosophy and methodologies (Chapter 3), and three empirical studies. These are wrapped in introduction (Chapter 1) and conclusion (Chapter 7) chapters. Chapter 2 critically reviews the extant literature prior to the completion of this thesis. In addition to critiquing existing literature future avenues for research that would fill some of the identified gaps in knowledge are suggested. Adopting a pragmatic philosophical approach Chapter 4 explores the perceptions from golfers and support personnel of what golfers should do on the course when not executing their shots. Results point to the use of a number of novel processes specifically the use of pre2- and post-shot routines, in addition to the impact of caddies at the meso-level of performance. These impacts of these processes and inputs on both player attention and other psychological factors are discussed. Reflecting the suggestion from Chapter 4 of the importance of meso-level processes, Chapter 5 seeks to identify if, and how, high-level golfers use the meso-level processes identified in Chapter 4. The findings suggest that high-level golfers do use the processes identified in Chapter 4 but that the content and application of the processes varies depending upon shot outcome. In particular, post-shot routines need to be adaptive based upon shot outcome. Consequently, the need to develop meta-cognitive skills is also highlighted. In order to close the pragmatic loop and practically apply the knowledge generated in the thesis to that point Chapter 6 takes five high-level golfers through a 10 week intervention. These interventions are aimed at developing the skills and processes discovered in the thesis and assesses both the perceived and performance benefits derived from the interventions. There were notable improvements in performance as a consequence of the interventions, although these were not statistically significant. However, participants did also positively note a number of perceived benefits derived from the interventions including the development of meso-level skills and associated general benefits and improvements. In concluding the thesis, and as per the pragmatic approach adopted, I offer practical suggestions to what golfers should do with the rest of the day and the impact that adopting these processes has on performance. Finally, and in order to provide practically useful findings to practitioners, a model for how to integrate the findings from the thesis is proposed.

This study examined professional practice issues in sport psychology such as qualifications, credentialing, graduate training, and the scope of practice in order to address questions about who should be teaching and providing such services. We used frequencies, t-tests, and chi-square analyses to assess trends among licensed psychologists in the subdiscipline of sport psychology. Analyses show that 26.7% (n = 52) reported providing services to individual athletes and 17.9% (n = 35) to teams in which their work focused on directly improving sport performances. Additionally, 58.5% (n = 114) reported providing mental health services to individual athletes and 10.3% (n = 20) to sport teams. These results suggest services provided to individual athletes and groups/teams of athletes seem to emphasize mental health concerns. Regarding supervision, 18.5% (n = 36) indicated they had received supervision related to improving athletes' sport performance and 35.9% (n = 70) for mental health services they had provided. Another 17.5% (n = 34) indicated having provided supervision to other professionals who were working with athletes to improve their sport performance and 40.0% (n = 78) for those who were addressing athletes' mental health. Overall, 26 (13.3%) of the psychologists had published articles concerning sport and performance psychology in scientific journals; men (25.4%) were more likely than women (7.8%) to have done so, X 2 (1) = 11.26, p = .001. Issues related to training, professional involvement, and ethics in this growing field are discussed. Future directions for this research are also explored.

The purpose of the study was to create a questionnaire to identify underlying dimensions of athletes' attitudes toward seeking sport psychology consultation. A total of 1138 athletes (625 males, 513 females) representing 36 sports from four levels of participation were used to develop the Sport Psychology Attitudes Questionnaire (SPAQ). In Study I, exploratory factor analysis produced a two-factor solution that accounted for 37.1% of the overall variance: (a) belief in the credibility of sport psychology (14 items) and (b) preference for similarity with a sport psychology consultant (SPC) (7 items). Three items were omitted following item analysis, and nine items were eliminated after failing to load higher than the cut-off value of .40 on either of the factors. In Study II, confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor model, and multigroup comparison in Study III demonstrated that the model fit well for both male and female samples. As for validity, the SPAQ factors predictably (a) distinguished between athletes with and without previous experience with a SPC, (b) related to ratings of helpfulness/satisfaction related to a previous experience with a SPC, and (c) correlated with willingness to see a SPC for help in the future. Also, the SPAQ factors were related, as predicted, to (a) belief that practicing sport psychology skills will lead to desirable outcomes, (b) interpersonal openness, and (c) affective prejudice toward identified outgroups but were not related to level of self-concept as hypothesized. Contrary to predictions, Gender X Race X SPC experience MANOVAs revealed no gender or racial differences in attitudes toward sport psychology consultation. It was concluded that the SPAQ is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing a set of important attitudinal dimensions with regard to seeking sport psychology consultation and a useful instrument for research and practice. Theoretical and empirical support for the interpretation of the SPAQ factor structure, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.