Role Commitment and Acceptance in a Sport Context

The objectives of this study were to (a) develop a conceptualization of role acceptance, later situated within the broader concept of role commitment, pertinent to the sport environment; (b) develop a measure integrating direct perceptions of role commitment and the bases of this variable; and (c) determine if role commitment could predict athletes’ intentions to return. To accomplish these objectives, multiple methods were used across 4 projects that leveraged the extant literature on acceptance and commitment perceptions from sport and organizational psychology, engaged athletes in focus groups in a think-aloud protocol, and obtained responses on iterative versions of a new role-commitment questionnaire from over 700 athletes from a variety of competitive and developmental levels. Overall, this approach captured the bases of role commitment (affective, normative, and continuance perspectives), as well as direct perceptions of role commitment, and demonstrated an important link to intentions to return to sport.

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Study Protocol for Implementation of An Internet-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Promoting Mental Health Among Migrant Live-in Caregivers in Canada (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.31211 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kenneth Po-Lun Fung ◽

Mandana Vahabi ◽

Masoomeh Moosapoor ◽

Abdolreza Akbarian ◽

Josephine Pui-Hing Wong

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Psychological Distress ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽

Psychological Intervention ◽

Self Care ◽

Well Being ◽

Virtual Space ◽

Commitment Therapy ◽

Acceptance And Commitment

BACKGROUND Psychological distress, isolation, feeling of powerlessness, and limited social support are realities faced by temporary migrant live–in caregivers in Canada. Furthermore, they experience multiple barriers in accessing mental health services due to their long work hours, limited knowledge about health resources, precarious employment, and immigration status. OBJECTIVE Women Empowerment - Caregiver Acceptance & Resilience E-Learning (WE2CARE) project is a pilot intervention research project that aims to promote mental well being and resiliency of migrant live-in caregivers. The objectives include exploring the effectiveness of this program in: (1) reducing psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress); (2) promoting committed actions of self-care; and (3) building mutual support social networks. Further, participants’ satisfaction with the intervention and their perceived barriers and facilitators to practicing the self-care strategies embedded in WE2CARE will be examined. METHODS Thirty-six live- in caregivers residing in Great Toronto Area (GTA) will be recruited and randomly assigned to intervention and waitlist control groups. The intervention group will receive a 6-week web-based psychosocial intervention that will be based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Standardized self-reported surveys will be administered online pre-, post-, and 6-week post-intervention to assess mental distress (DASS 21), psychological flexibility (AAQ-2), mindfulness (CAMS-R) and Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR-I). Two focus groups will be held with a subset of participants to explore their feedback on the utility of the WE2CARE program. RESULTS WE2CARE was funded in January 2019 for a year. The protocol was approved by the research ethics boards of Ryerson University (REB 2019-036) in February 2019, and University of Toronto (RIS37623) in May 2019. Data collection started upon ethics approval and was completed by May 2020. A total of 29 caregivers completed the study and 20 participated in the focus groups. Data analyses are in progress and results will be published in 2021. CONCLUSIONS WE2CARE can be a promising approach in reducing stress, promoting resilience, and providing a virtual space for peer emotional support and collaborative learning among socially isolated and marginalized women. The results of this pilot study will inform the adaptation and utility of online delivery of ACT based psychological intervention in promoting mental health among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. CLINICALTRIAL None

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Adolescent Performers’ Perspectives on Mental Toughness and Its Development: The Utility of the Bioecological Model

The Sport Psychologist ◽

10.1123/tsp.2013-0050 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 233-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

John W. Mahoney ◽

Daniel F. Gucciardi ◽

Clifford J. Mallett ◽

Nikos Ntoumanis

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Critical Incidents ◽

Personal Characteristics ◽

Significant Others ◽

Social Processes ◽

Mental Toughness ◽

Future Research ◽

Extant Literature ◽

Bioecological Model

In light of the extant literature, the aim of the current study was to compare adolescents’ perspectives on mental toughness and its development across performance contexts, and to explore if such perspectives align with Bronfenbrenner’s (2001) bioecological model. Eighteen mentally tough adolescents (9 boys, 9 girls, Mage = 15.6 years) from three performance contexts (i.e., sport, academia, and music) participated in focus groups, 7 of whom also participated in follow-up one-to-one interviews. Inductive analyses revealed that mental toughness was conceptualized by 9 personal characteristics, and that while similar across performance contexts, some difference between previous mental toughness conceptualization and the current study existed. Analyses also revealed that mental toughness development was predicated on significant others, supportive social processes, critical incidents, and curiosity. These findings resonated with the properties of the bioecological model. Future research into how bioecological factors combine to facilitate mental toughness development during critical stages of life was suggested.

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Focus Groups

Employee Surveys and Sensing ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190939717.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 103-120

Author(s):

Jeffrey M. Cucina ◽

Ilene F. Gast

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Organizational Psychology ◽

Survey Development ◽

Employee Survey ◽

Annotated List ◽

Survey Questions ◽

Industrial Organizational Psychology

When used in conjunction with employee surveys, focus groups can provide valuable qualitative data to support the employee survey process. Focus groups held prior to survey development and administration can uncover issues worthy of investigation and evaluate draft survey questions for sensitivity and readability. Post-survey focus groups can elucidate issues identified by the survey, solicit organizational members’ suggestions for resolving these issues, and gain management and employee feedback on possible programs to address identified issues. After describing how focus groups fit into the context of industrial–organizational psychology methodology, the authors outline steps for designing and conducting focus group studies and for analyzing the resulting data and reporting findings. The chapter concludes with an annotated list of additional resources for conducting focus groups.

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A Brief Educational Intervention Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Four Injured Athletes’ Experiences

Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology ◽

10.1123/jcsp.5.3.252 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 252-273 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

John Mahoney ◽

Stephanie J. Hanrahan

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Educational Intervention ◽

Return To Sport ◽

Well Being ◽

Private Events ◽

Acl Injuries ◽

Acceptance And Commitment ◽

Rehabilitation Protocols ◽

Basic Level ◽

Injured Athletes

The purpose of this study was to research the experiences of four injured athletes during their rehabilitation from ACL injuries and to examine the potential usefulness of an adapted ACT intervention in addressing individuals’ adherence to rehabilitation protocols and their general psychological well-being. We investigated the usefulness of a brief, 4-session ACT program adapted for educational purposes and presented data as case studies. The case studies suggested that (a) the injured athletes experienced a multitude of private events immediately following injury, throughout their recovery, and when approaching a full return to sport; (b) the injured athletes typically avoided these private events and engaged in emotion-driven behaviors; (c) an adapted ACT approach for educational purposes could be useful on at least a basic level to help injured athletes accept private events, commit to rehabilitation behaviors, and have some certainty about returning to sport; and (d) more could be done to address the needs of injured athletes beyond the structure of our 4-session educational intervention. We concluded that the ACT-based intervention, to a certain extent, educated injured athletes about how to meet the challenges of their recoveries and how to commit to their rehabilitations, as well as to exhibit behaviors that would potentially permit their successful reentries to sport.

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Groupness, cohesion, and intention to return to sport: A study of intact youth teams

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching ◽

10.1177/1747954117732725 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 545-551 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kevin S Spink ◽

Colin D McLaren ◽

Jocelyn D Ulvick

Keyword(s):

Return To Sport ◽

Youth Soccer ◽

Sport Team ◽

The Future ◽

Task Cohesion ◽

Intentions To Return ◽

Intention To Return ◽

The Relationship ◽

Group Experience ◽

Initial Results

The positive benefits for youth participating in sport have been well documented. Yet, keeping athletes returning to sport has been a concern. While various factors have been examined to explain this attrition, facets of the sport group experience have started to emerge. From a group perspective, it has been established that athlete intentions to return to a sport team the following season are positively associated with perceived team cohesion. While cohesion is a key group construct, other group factors are worthy of examination. The purpose of the current study was to build upon the research base by examining whether the relationship between cohesion and intention to return would be moderated by another group factor—the level of groupness ascribed to the team. At the end of a competitive season, youth soccer athletes ( N = 156) completed measures of task cohesion, groupness, and intention to return to their team in the future. Results revealed that the task cohesion-intention to return relationship was significantly moderated by groupness, p = .03. Simple slopes analysis revealed that the strongest relationship between task cohesion and intention to return occurred under conditions of lower groupness. These initial results indicated that intention to return was highest when the team was perceived as higher in task cohesion, regardless of groupness perceptions. However, when the team was perceived to be lower in task cohesion, those who perceived their team as being more like a group indicated a greater willingness to return to the team in the future.

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Handlungsleitende Orientierungen frühpädagogischer Fachkräfte in der Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern

Frühe Bildung ◽

10.1026/2191-9186/a000296 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 10-15

Author(s):

Beate Vomhof

Keyword(s):

Focus Groups ◽

Sich Eine

Zusammenfassung. Die Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern wird in Bildungsplänen und Kompetenzbeschreibungen als professionelle Aufgabe frühpädagogischer Fachkräfte definiert. Um einen Paradigmenwechsel anzuzeigen, verwenden zahlreiche Autoren inzwischen nicht mehr den Begriff Elternarbeit, sondern sprechen von Bildungs- und Erziehungspartnerschaft. Doch wird die Kooperation tatsächlich partnerschaftlich umgesetzt? Um der Forschungsfrage nachzugehen, welche handlungsleitenden Orientierungen frühpädagogische Fachkräfte in der Zusammenarbeit mit Eltern im Kontext kompensatorischer Sprachfördermaßnahmen haben, werden neun Fälle (die aus sechs Interviews und zwei Focus Groups generiert wurden) anhand der Dokumentarischen Methode interpretiert. Es zeigt sich, dass die Förderkräfte auf der Ebene der Einstellung die normativen Setzungen um Partnerschaftlichkeit teilen. Die Rekonstruktion der impliziten Wissensbestände offenbart jedoch, dass die Kooperation hierarchisch und teilweise als Machtbeziehung konstruiert wird. Es lässt sich eine grundlegende Diskrepanz zwischen den expliziten und den impliziten Orientierungen rekonstruieren, die sich als Differenz zwischen Norm und Habitus zeigt.

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