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Injury is a serious setback for athletes and might jeopardize mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate if a mindfulness- and acceptance-based intervention can improve mindfulness (nonreactivity and acting with awareness), acceptance, and well-being, and decrease the level of symptoms of anxiety and depression. A single-case design with multiple, staggered, and nonconcurrent baselines was used. Six seriously injured athletes took part in an 8-week intervention and repeatedly completed questionnaires on all variables for the duration of the study. The results showed that, on average, there were significant clinical changes between phases in nonreactivity, well-being, and acceptance. No effect was seen in the two remaining scales. On an individual level, two participants showed effects in all scales, two participants in some of the scales, and two participants in the scale nonreactivity. Results are discussed in light of existing research, and implications for practitioners’ clinical methods are presented.

The authors of this paper share how they developed and validated an applied framework termed the career-long psychological support services in Swedish handball (CPS-H). The CPS-H is grounded in career research within Swedish handball and examples of efficient career assistance practice complemented by applied experiences of the first author. The authors used a heuristic approach to sketch the CPS-H initial version, which later was validated in three focus groups with end-users (handball players, coaches, and sport psychology practitioners) and transformed into the validated CPS-H. Promoting a combination of the proactive, educational, whole career, whole environment, and whole person approaches, the framework is structured as having interrelated parts addressing questions: where (changes in the contexts), when (ages, career stages), what (athletes’ needs and potential working issues), who (support providers), why (philosophy shared by the stakeholders), and how (forms of services) of psychological support. The authors further reflect on the CPS-H and its implementation and provide general and stage-specific recommendations for support providers. Although the CPS-H is contextualized in a specific sport and culture, some lessons can be applicable across countries and sport boarders. © 2020 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Additional funding: The Swedish Handball Federation

The first purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine achievement goals in youth sport. The second purpose was to examine the within-person effects of perceived motivational climates by coaches, peers, and parents on achievement goal orientation. Participants were 78 young student-athletes, representing a variety of sports. The student-athletes completed a multi-section questionnaire, six times over a three-year period, assessing the study variables. Multilevel modelling analysis revealed that both task orientation and ego orientation decreased for this age group over the three-year period. Furthermore, perceived task-involving peer climate was significantly and positively related to task orientation, and perceived ego-involving coach climate was significantly and positively related to ego orientation. The results from this study provides insights regarding developmental changes in achievement goals and the importance of certain social agents in that specific developmental stage.

The field of sport and exercise psychology (SEP) has experienced a steady growth, and the professional practice and training of students has evolved over that time. Based on 2 past studies, the pur...

The successful implementation of injury prevention programs is reliant on athletes and coaches accepting, adopting, and complying with behaviors that reduce injury risk. Exploring factors, such as motivation and planned behavior, that might increase the frequency of these behaviors warrants investigation. The aim of the study was to investigate the complex interaction between perceived autonomy support, self-determined motivation, planned behavior, and how this relates to golfers self-reported intention injury preventative behavior. A total of 60 golfers completed questions on psychological measures of perceived autonomy support from coaches, autonomous motivation, and intentions of injury preventative behavior. A neural network model analysis was performed to investigate the strength of connection between covariates and construct a network structure. Analysis of results was performed by assessing edge strengths and node centrality to guide inference of the network topology. The most central node was autonomous regulation and the results showed one cluster comprising positive interactions between perceived autonomy support, effort of injury preventative behavior, and frequency of injury preventative behavior. When aiming to encourage injury preventative behavior, coaches should consider giving feedback that supports autonomous motivation since it is positively associated with effort and frequency of injury preventative behavior among high-level golfers. Injury prevention programs should include strategies to improve the athlete's autonomous motivation to carry out preventive activities.

In this paper we share how a career assistance program (CAP) was developed, implemented, and evaluated with a Swedish elite handball team. Within this case study the initial version of the CAP’s content was created based on the career-long psychological support services in Swedish handball framework and the first author’s applied experiences. During implementation the head coach terminated unexpectedly and the team appeared in a crisis. This transitional situation led to modification of the CAP to help the players cope with changes. Eighteen players took part in eight workshops dealing with various aspects of their sport and non-sport life (e.g., performance, training, lifestyle, recovery, future planning) with crisis-related issues (e.g., coping with uncertainty) incorporated. Mixed-methods evaluation revealed the players’ perceived increase in personal resources (awareness, skills) and decrease in stress and fatigue. Reflections on working in applied sport psychology from a holistic perspective in a dynamic real-life setting are provided. Som manuskript i avhandling / As manuscipt in thesisAdditional funding: The Swedish Handball Federation

The study was aimed at developing the empirical career model of Swedish professional handball players by means of exploring their career experiences in athletic and non-athletic developments throug...

This study examined (a) the developmental trajectories of student-athlete burnout perceptions and (b) the within-person relationship between achievement goals and burnout perceptions. A three-year ...

The aim of the study was to examine how players perceptions of sociocultural factors and intra- and interpersonal aspects of sporting experiences may have influenced the emotions, cognitions, and behaviours of elite female soccer players prior to the occurrence of ACL injuries. The research questions guiding the study were: (a) how did female elite soccer players perceive that their psychosocial experiences were related to their cognitive, physiological, and emotional states prior to their ACL injuries, and (b) how did the players feel their perceived states influenced their behaviours prior to injury occurrence. The participants consisted of the total population of female players (N = 18) competing in the Swedish womens elite league, who incurred a total ACL tear during the 2012 season. Using a semi-structured interview guide, all players were interviewed post-season. We represented the data using a storytelling approach of aggregated creative nonfiction. The aggregated stories showed sociocultural rules and expectations of overtraining and placing pressure on athletes to play even if they were not physically or psychologically fit. Responding to pressures with potentially risk-increasing behaviours might raise the probability of becoming injured through a number of pathways. Team managers, coaches, and members of the medical team are recommended to develop environments that stimulate the players to engage in adaptive stress-recovery and risk-decreasing behaviours. Funding Agencies|Swedish Football Association

This single-subject case study adopted a narrative approach and focused on two objectives: (a) to explore an athlete’s career development, including the impact of injuries, and (b) to explore that athlete’s injury experiences in detail. The participant was a 26-year-old former elite handball player who had experienced two major anterior cruciate ligament injuries during his career. To guide the research process from the formulation of its objectives to the interpretation of the participant’s narratives, we followed the narrative-oriented inquiry framework. To collect the participant’s stories, a low-structured interview guide consisting of open questions and requests for information about the participant’s handball career and injury experiences was used. The holistic content analysis allowed us to conceptualise injuries as career transition processes embedded in the athlete’s career development. Moreover, the participant’s narratives made it possible to identify four phases of injury transition and the di...

Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is like an immortal horse that some researchers have been trying to beat to death for over 50 years but without any success. In this article we discuss the flaws in NHST, the historical background in relation to both Fisher’s and Neyman and Pearson’s statistical ideas, the common misunderstandings of what p < 05 actually means, and the 2010 APA publication manual’s clear, but most often ignored, instructions to report effect sizes and to interpret what they all mean in the real world. In addition, we discuss how Bayesian statistics can be used to overcome some of the problems with NHST. We then analyze quantitative articles published over the past three years (2012–2014) in two top-rated sport and exercise psychology journals to determine whether we have learned what we should have learned decades ago about our use and meaningful interpretations of statistics.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between self-report measures such as mood state, emotional recovery, and perceived exertion for a runner during a continental run. Se ...

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which a mindfulness-based program could reduce the number of sport injuries in a sample of soccer players. A total of 41 junior elite soccer players were randomly assigned to the treatment or the attentional control group. The treatment group took part in a 7-session program based on the mindfulness, acceptance, and commitment approach. The attentional control group was offered 7 sessions of sport psychology presentations with a particular focus on soccer. There were no statistically significant differences in injury rates between the two groups, U(39) = 149.50, z = −1.77, p =.077, but there was a medium effect size (adjusted Cohen's d = − 0.59), approx. 80% confidence interval for d [−0.37, −0.74]. Moreover, 67% of the players in the mindfulness group remained injury free in comparison to 40% in the control group. This result implies that an intervention program focusing on strategies for improving attention could decrease injury risk. Recommendations in...

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the predictive ability of perceived talent development environment (TDE) on the well-being of youth elite football players.Design: A field-base ...

Objectives: The main objectives of this article are to: (a) investigate if there are any meaningful differences between adjusted and unadjusted effect sizes (b) compare the outcomes from parametric ...

This review provides an overview of recent theoretical and empirical developments regarding psychosocial factors related to the prediction and prevention of sport injuries, and highlights some of the most interesting areas of investigation that have been carried out in the past few years. For instance, a systematic review of the most cited and used theoretical framework in the field has recently been performed, which supports the model's suggestion that psychosocial variables, as well as psychologically based interventions, can influence injury risk among athletes. Based on substantial empirical evidence it is also shown that changes in stress and perceived recovery appear to predict injury occurrence in sport. Current studies, focusing on overuse injuries, also suggest that cultural norms and rules can be seen as factors that can indirectly influence the risk of becoming injured. Future research directions are presented such as the need for interdisciplinary injury prevention programs based on a combination of physiological and psychological interventions.

Using a sample of student-athletes’ (N=64) first year (seventh grade) enrolled at a school with a sport profile, the aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate (a) levels and changes as regards to worry about sport performance, perception of peer climate, and perceived competence; and (b) the relationship in levels and changes between these studied variables. The primary results from latent growth models (LGMs) and parallel process LGMs revealed that, during their first year, the student-athletes’ level of worry and perceived ego-oriented peer climate increased, whereas perceived competence decreased. Further, the results showed that perceived competence was negatively associated with worry at the beginning of the students’ first year. The slope of perceived ego-oriented peer climate was positively associated with the slope of worry. Future research in relation to the findings is discussed, and recommendations for future actions are given.

Background Most of the research in the area of psychosocial factors in rehabilitation after sports injuries has focused on risk behaviors, while relatively few studies have focused on behaviors that facilitate rehabilitation. The objective of our study was to understand the psychosocial features that characterize elite female football players who express a resilient behaviour during rehabilitation after a first-time anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction. Methods A qualitative method was used based on individual in-person interviews and video communication of players who incurred a first-time ACL tear during the 2012 season of the Swedish Women’s Elite Football League. In total, 13 players had a first-time ACL and were interviewed post-season. The interviews were followed by a thematic content analysis. Based on this, eight players were identified as showing resilient behaviors during their rehabilitation and were included in the final analysis. Results Three core themes representing psychosocial factors that help players cope successfully with rehabilitation were identified: (I) constructive communication and rich interaction with significant others; (II) strong belief in the importance and efficacy of one’s own actions; and (III) the ability to set reasonable goals. Conclusions The findings suggest three core themes of psychosocial factors that characterize first-time ACL-injured elite female football players showing resilience during rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction. Suggestions for medical teams about ways to support communication, self-efficacy, and goal-setting during the rehabilitation process, are provided. © 2016 The Author(s). The study was financially supported by the Swedish Football Association (FA).

The aim of the present study was to examine knowledge and experience about sport psychology consulting among coaches for Swedish male and female premier soccer teams, and to identify barriers and possibilities that a sport psychology consultant (SPC) encounters in joining a team. All 28 coaches within Swedish male and female premier soccer leagues answered the “Psychology for Football Questionnaire”. In addition, coaches from two male and two female teams were interviewed. The main findings showed that about half the teams had contacted an SPC. Skills favored by coaches were goal setting and team building, and the biggest barriers to using SPCs were lack of knowledge/skepticism about the field, unclear descriptions of services, and problems integrating with the team. Possibilities for entry were feasible time available, and accessing positive role models. Conclusions pertain to the practical implications for applied research and the provision of sport psychology services within premier soccer.

Objective Applied sport psychology (ASP) literature reveals a number of publications on reflective practice and professional philosophies of well-established sport psychology consultants. However, there is much less interest in studying how novice consultants make the first steps in their careers and how they perceive the field of ASP in their respective countries and themselves within the field. The objective of this study is to analyse and structure lessons learned by students during their one-year ASP education and supervised practice in Sweden. Method Thirty-seven ASP students (23 males and 14 females) took part in this study. The data were extracted from the students' final reports on their six-month interventions with athlete-clients. Altogether 278 raw data units (lessons learned) were identified. Results We used both inductive and deductive analyses to create 33 themes and four categories named professional tools , consultant–client relationship , learning process and experiences , and professional philosophy . These four categories were further structured into three levels reflecting the students' learning process and exploration of the profession with the shifts from analysis to synthesis and from concrete to more generalized and strategic lessons learned. Conclusion The study provides insight into the novice sport psychology consultants' reflective practice. The results are discussed using career development, scientist-practitioner and cultural sport psychology perspectives. Applications and future research directions are outlined.

It is accepted that risk factors such a type of sport, equipment, and individual physical and psychological characteristics interact in the genesis of sport‐related injuries. The presented review provides an overview of theoretical approaches and empirical findings with regard to the psychosocial antecedents of sport injuries. It also provides an overview of intervention studies that have taken place within the last 15 years. During this period, different models for detecting injury outcome have been developed. It appears that psychosocial variables such as high competitive anxiety, low or high emotional state, high levels of life changes, low coping resources, and low levels of social support are directly or indirectly related to injury outcome. Moreover, empirical prevention studies demonstrate positive results in terms of a reduction in the number of injuries and, in most cases, improvements in mood and reduced stress levels. Many important research variables need further recognition for the a...

Bayesian statistics is on the rise in mainstream psychology, but applications in sport and exercise psychology research are scarce. In this article, the foundations of Bayesian analysis are introduced, and we will illustrate how to apply Bayesian structural equation modeling in a sport and exercise psychology setting. More specifically, we contrasted a confirmatory factor analysis on the Sport Motivation Scale II estimated with the most commonly used estimator, maximum likelihood, and a Bayesian approach with weakly informative priors for cross-loadings and correlated residuals. The results indicated that the model with Bayesian estimation and weakly informative priors provided a good fit to the data, whereas the model estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator did not produce a well-fitting model. The reasons for this discrepancy between maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation are discussed as well as potential advantages and caveats with the Bayesian approach.

This study examined the effectiveness of a prevention intervention program to lower the incidence of injury for soccer players with at-risk psychosocial profiles. The Sport Anxiety Scale, the Life Event Scale for Collegiate Athletes, and the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 were used to screen for psychosocial risk factors outlined in the stress and injury model (Williams & Andersen, 1998). Thirty-two high injury-risk players were identified and randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Injuries of participants were reported by their coaches. The intervention program consisted of training in 6 mental skills distributed in 6 to 8 sessions during 19 weeks of the competitive season. The results showed that the brief intervention prevention program significantly lowered the number of injuries in the treatment group compared with the control group.