Psychological well-being, physical activity, sport and exercise

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Psychological skills training programs

The concept “psychological skills” contains two sub concepts which may be briefly unpacked as follows; “Psychology”, originating from the Greek word psyche, can be described as the study and use of human bio-psycho-social-cultural-spiritual experiences and behaviour. “Skills” refer to learnable and trainable abilities used by different individuals in different situations and in diverse ways on a daily basis (Weinberg & Gould, 2007). Psychological skills training (PST) programs essentially refer to organised interventions, typically in health and sporting contexts, wherein systematic training of various psychological skills takes place. Early sport PST interventions focused predominantly on the training of single psychological skills (Wann & Church, 1998). Over the last twenty years composite 19 PST package programs have been developed, implemented and evaluated. These latter programs aimed to improve various psychological skills simultaneously and provide optimal training in this regard (MacDougall, Scott, McFarlane, Leblanc & Cormier, 2001; Wann & Church, 1998). Such broad base PST programs have special value for youth athletes in their inclusion of biological, social and spiritual aspects, which improve general life skills and assists development.

Psychological well-being

Psychological well-being is one component of health, which like psychological skills falls under the broad category of psychology. Psychological well-being or positive mental health has been extensively researched over the last two decades (Conway & Macleod, 2002; Ryff, 1989b; Wissing & Van Eeden, 1998). Various studies have demonstrated the positive effect of physical activity on psychological well-being and psychological well-being on sporting performance (Edwards, Edwards & Basson, 2004; Edwards, Ngcobo, Edwards, & Palavar, 2005; Hayes & Ross, 1986; Scully, Kremer, Meade, Graham & Dudgeon, 1998; Weinberg & Gould, 2007). Aspects of sports training can however also have a detrimental effect on positive mental health, most notably physical overtraining in the form of addiction can lead to a decrease in psychological well-being. Generally peak or optimum physical training is associated with variable effects on health and optimum performance, with moderate training typically enhancing health above performance and peak training enhancing performance above health. With psychological well-being an essential component of general life, health (World Health Organization, 1946), sport and performance, it is important that variables which could potentially increase or decrease psychological well-being be thoroughly researched and investigated.

Sport psychology

The First World Congress of Sport Psychology in 1965 in Rome established sport psychology as a modern academic and professional discipline (Morris, Hackfort & Lidor, 2003). The field is concerned with the theory and practice of psychological principles in sport and exercise contexts for the promotion of health and performance. Since 1965, sport psychology has developed considerably in America, Europe, Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. It is offered at many universities as part of a sport science or psychology degree, as a specialized sub-discipline, which compliments other health and performance sub-disciplines such as biokinetics, exercise physiology, sport management, coaching and physiotherapy. Regular international conferences, journals such as the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology and Psychology of Sport and Exercise, as well as specialist registration categories are currently developing the field.

Stage four: PST program for school experimental group participants

Seven weeks before the season’s training began, the PST program was commenced with the school experimental group. The program consisted of six weekly sessions, covering the six psychological skill topics. Each session was run during the week and ranged from one to two hours. The sessions were all structured into the following format: formal instruction to introduce the concept and theories, interactive discussion, concept practice and homework assignment. Participants, who were in the same grade or had contact with one another at school, reminded each other about and discussed the program at school forming an interactional supportive group environment outside the scheduled psychological skills training sessions. Before and after each session the participants were assessed using both quantitative and qualitative process measures relevant for the particular session concerned (Appendices J, K, L and M, N, P, R, T, V, X and Y). At each session each participant received an educational handout of the session (Appendices O, Q, S, U, W, and Z) including suggested homework, which was explained to them in comprehensive detail. Throughout this time the control group received no intervention. The following interactive account of the experimental group sessions includes the perceptions of participants and researcher.

Sport psychology expert 4

“I think that mental skills have an important role to play in psychological well being. Mental skills’ training is about teaching a person to have more control over their thoughts and feelings. Many people feel like their lives, thoughts and feelings are totally out of control and they don’t know how to change this situation. By teaching people how to control thoughts and behaviours, I think you are enhancing their sense of well being, mastery and self-esteem. You are giving them practical handles on how to go about changing themselves and coping with life problems. Knowing that you 117 have the inner resources to cope with a situation produces a sense of well being. Mental skills give people access to resources they might not have been aware that they had. Also there is a lot of research showing that a positive mental attitude can buffer against stress and depression – by teaching people how to control their mental attitude, focus on the right things and cope with anxiety, you are helping them reduce stress and the myriad of problems associated with it. Being able to relax yourself and calm your mind are essential tools to enhance psychological well being.”

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Sport psychology expert 5

“You have asked for my views on the relationship between psychological skills and psychological well-being in the context of psychological skills training with youth athletes. The question seems to have many aspects to it. I am not sure whether my answer should be mainly experiential or conceptual. However as terms and concepts are formed from experience I will try to include both conceptual and experiential aspects in my answer, beginning conceptually and continuing experientially for the sake of clarity. It is helpful to keep instructional, knowledge and relevancy key words in mind when analyzing any question. The instructional keywords request an answer that is experiential and descriptive, the knowledge keywords are contained individually and 118 collectively in such terms as ‘psychological’, ‘well-being’, ‘skills’ ‘training’ and ‘youth athletes’, and the relevancy keywords request an answer on a specific relationship between concepts in a particular referential context.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

Content Page
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
Tables
Definitions
Summary
Opsomming
Chapter One Introduction
- 1.1. Introduction
- 1.2. Psychological skills training programs
- 1.3. Psychological well-being
- 1.4. Sport psychology
- 1.5. Sport psychology in South Africa
- 1.6. Group interventions and empowerment
- 1.7. Motivation for the study
- 1.8. Problem statement
- 1.9. Aim
- 1.10. Hypotheses
- 1.11. Modus operandi
- 1.12. Résumé
Chapter Two Literature review: Psychological Skills Training Programs
- 2.1. Introduction
- 2.2. Psychological skills training programs
  - 2.2.1. Youth PST programs
  - 2.2.2. Adult PST programs
  - 2.2.3. Wann and Church’s PST program
- 2.3. Psychological skills
  - 2.3.1. Arousal
    - 2.3.1.1. Physiological arousal
    - 2.3.1.1.1. Conceptual understanding
    - 2.3.1.1.2. Theoretical underpinnings
    - 2.3.1.1.3. Physiological arousal experience
    - 2.3.1.1.4. Physiological arousal use
    - 2.3.1.1.5. Training techniques
    - 2.3.1.1.5.1. Breathing techniques
    - 2.3.1.1.5.2. Progressive relaxation
- 2.3.1.2. Cognitive arousal
  - 2.3.1.2.1. Conceptual framework
  - 2.3.1.2.2. Theoretical basis
  - 2.3.1.2.3. Self-doubt and anxiety
  - 2.3.1.2.4. Cognitive arousal and performance
  - 2.3.1.2.5. Cognitive arousal training
  - 2.3.1.2.5.1. Correcting faulty thought patterns
2.3.1.2.5.2. Meditation
2.3.2. Mental imagery
2.3.2.1. Conceptual basis
2.3.2.2. Theoretical understanding
2.3.2.3. Internal and external imagery viewpoint
2.3.2.4. Effectiveness of imagery
2.3.2.5. Training techniques
2.3.3. Attention and concentration
2.3.3.1. Conceptual understanding
2.3.3.2. Theoretical underpinnings
2.3.3.3. Use of attention and concentration
2.3.3.4. Distractible factors
2.3.3.5. Focusing techniques
2.3.4. Self-confidence
2.3.4.1. Conceptual framework
2.3.4.2. Theoretical understandings
2.3.4.3. Use of self-confidence
2.3.4.4. Training techniques
2.3.5. Goal setting and motivation
2.3.5.1. Conceptual basis
2.3.5.2. Theoretical framework
2.3.5.3. Motivation for training
2.3.5.4. Training techniques
2.4. PST programs, psychological skills and psychological well-being
2.5. Résumé

Chapter Three Literature review: Psychological well-being
- 3.1. Introduction
- 3.2. Health
- 3.3. Psychological well-being
- 3.3.1. Ryff’s objective psychological well-being conception
- 3.3.1.1. Psychological well-being components
- 3.3.1.1.1. Autonomy
- 3.3.1.1.2. Personal growth
- 3.3.1.1.3. Environmental mastery
- 3.3.1.1.4. Purpose in life
- 3.3.1.1.5. Positive relations with others
- 3.3.1.1.6. Self-acceptance
- 3.3.2. Research using Ryff’s scale
- 3.3.3. Psychological well-being, physical activity, sport and exercise
- 3.4. Résumé
Chapter Four Methodology
- 4.1. Introduction
- 4.2. PST program
- 4.2.1. Program development, implementation and evaluation procedure
- 4.2.1.1. Needs assessment
- 4.2.1.2. Program planning and procedure
- 4.3. Design
- 4.3.1. Interventions
- 4.3.1.1. School group intervention
- 4.3.1.1.1. Design
  - 4.3.1.1.2. Intervention process
  - 4.3.1.1.2.1. Stage one: contact with school participants
  - 4.3.1.1.2.2. Stage two: school group intervention pre-test
  - 4.3.1.1.2.3. Stage three: experimental and control group allocation
  - 4.3.1.1.2.4. Stage four: PST program for school experimental group
- participants
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.1. Session 1: physiological arousal
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.2. Session 2: cognitive arousal
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.3. Session 3: mental imagery
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.4. Session 4: attention and concentration
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.5. Session 5: self-confidence
- 4.3.1.1.2.4.6. Session 6: goal setting and motivation
- 4.3.1.1.2.5. Stage five: school group intervention post-test
- 4.3.1.1.2.6. Stage six: school experimental group PST review session
- 4.3.1.1.2.7. Stage seven: school group intervention follow-up testing
- 4.3.1.1.2.8. Stage eight: PST program for school participant control
- group
- 4.3.1.2. Community workshop intervention
- 4.3.2. Case studies
- 4.3.2.1. Adult elite sportspersons
- 4.3.2.2. Sport psychology experts
- 4.4. Measuring instruments
- 4.4.1. Quantitative outcome measures
- 4.4.1.1. Ryff’s psychological well-being scale (Appendix D)
- 4.4.1.2. Bull’s mental skills questionnaire (Appendix E)
- 4.4.1.3. Time measurement (Appendix H)
- 4.4.2. Qualitative outcome measures
- 4.4.3. Quantitative process measures
- 4.4.3.1. Relaxation measures (Appendix M)
- 4.4.3.2. Competitive State Anxiety Inventory 2 (CSAI-2) (Appendix G)
- 4.4.3.3. Sports imagery questionnaire (SIQ) (Appendix R)
- 4.4.3.4. Concentration grid (Appendix T)
- 4.4.3.5. Perception of success questionnaire (POSQ) (Appendix X)
- 4.4.3.6. Self-theory questionnaire (Appendix K)
- 4.4.4. Qualitative process measures
- 4.4.5. Qualitative sport psychology expert question (Appendix DD)
- 4.5. Data analysis techniques
- 4.5.1. Quantitative technique
- 4.5.2. Qualitative technique
- 4.6. Ethics
- 4.7. Résumé
Chapter Five Results
- 5.1. Introduction
- 5.2. Interventions
- 5.2.1. School group intervention
- 5.2.1.1. Daily training schedules
- 5.2.1.2. Example of one school participants’ data profile
- 5.2.2. Community workshop intervention
- 5.3. Case studies
- 5.3.1. Adult elite sportspersons
- 5.3.1.1. Joey’s story
- 5.3.1.2. Sandy’s story
  - 5.3.2. Sport psychology experts
  - 5.3.2.1. Sport psychology expert
  - 5.3.2.2. Sport psychology expert
  - 5.3.2.3. Sport psychology expert
  - 5.3.2.4. Sport psychology expert
  - 5.3.2.5. Sport psychology expert
- 5.4. Résumé
Chapter Six Discussion and conclusion
- 6.1. Introduction
- 6.2. Discussion
- 6.2.1. Psychological skills training program
- 6.2.2. Impact of PST program on psychological skills
- 6.2.3. Psychological skills training and performance
- 6.2.4. Impact of psychological skills on psychological well-being
- 6.2.5. Relationship between psychological skills and psychological
- well-being
- 6.2.6. Sport psychology in South Africa
- 6.2.7. Support groups and empowerment
- 6.3. Conclusion
- 6.4. Limitations of the study
- 6.5. Recommendations
- 7. References
- 8. Appendices