Performance development of adolescent athletes: A Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment

290 Pages·2013·14.74 MB·English

by  Ellie Dykema

Performance development of adolescent athletes:
A Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach
by
ELLIE DYKEMA

A mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree

MAGISTER ARTIUM (Counselling Psychology)

in the department of

PSYCHOLOGY

at the

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

SUPERVISOR: PROF. L. H. HUMAN

October 2013
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express great appreciation to the following people:

Prof. L. H. Human for your valuable and constructive suggestions during the
planning and development of this research study.

The athletes and staff of the High Performance Centre (hpc) of the University of
Pretoria (UP) for your assistance and resources throughout this project.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Ida, Hanri, and Stephan for your continuous
encouragement throughout this journey.

Erich, for your patience, support, and for sharing me with psychology. I love you for
understanding. You know me so well.

To both my Father and my dad in heaven, thank you for providing me with strength
and hope.

Most importantly, I want to thank my mother, Riana, for being there every step of the
way. You are my safe haven, my inspiration. Words cannot describe my
appreciation for the endless phone calls and for your everlasting trust in me. This
one’s for you. We will celebrate. I love you.

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ABSTRACT

This study explored the subjective interpretations of five adolescent athletes who
experienced a sport-specific version of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment
(MAC) approach. The MAC approach is an alternative sport psychology intervention
to more traditional control-driven approaches, such as Psychological Skills Training
(PST). An in-depth qualitative study was conducted at the High Performance Centre
(hpc) of the University of Pretoria (UP). The sport-specific MAC programme was
developed for the sport of athletics. The programme was facilitated to five
adolescent athletes who participate in the sport of athletics. Semi-structured
interviews were conducted after the participants experienced the programme. The
interviews were based on written reflections provided by participants during the
programme. The research position for this study was phenomenology, and
specifically Interpretive Phenomenology (IP). Interpretive Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the material. The results revealed that there was
only one theme that was common to all five participants. Furthermore, the results
portrayed diversity amongst the participant experiences and subjectivity in their
interpretations of the MAC approach. The results displayed how some themes are

consistent with MAC-related literature, and how other themes contradict the

literature. Additionally, some themes have not been reported in MAC literature
before. Thus, the study contributed to the expansion of literature on the MAC
approach.

Key words: Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC), Psychological Skills
Training (PST), sport-specific, adolescent, athlete, phenomenology, Interpretive
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Abstract
Page

CHAPTER 1
BACKGROUND 1

1.1 CONTEXT 1

1.1.1 University of Pretoria 1
1.1.2 Psychology Department 2
1.1.3 High Performance Centre 2
1.1.4 Sport Psychology Services at the High Performance Centre 3

1.1.4.1 Performance Termination 3

1.1.4.2 Performance Impairment 4

1.1.4.3 Performance Dysfunction 4
1.1.4.4 Performance Development 5

1.1.5 Sport Psychology Dilemmas at the High Performance Centre 5

1.1.5.1 Dilemma 1: Programme 5
1.1.5.2 Dilemma 2: Research 6

1.2 ATHLETICS 6

1.2.1 Athletics in South Africa 6
1.2.2 Athletics at the High Performance Centre 7

1.3 QUESTIONS 7
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1.3.1 Primary Research Question 1 7
1.3.2 Primary Research Question 2 8
1.3.3 Primary Research Question 3 8

1.4 GOALS 9

1.4.1 General Goals 9
1.4.2 Specific Goals 9

1.5 MOTIVATION 10

1.5.1 Academic Motivation 10
1.5.2 Research Motivation 10
1.5.3 Organisational Motivation 11

1.6 STRUCTURE 11

CHAPTER 2 13

PROGRAMMES 13

2.1 PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING IN SPORT 13

2.1.1 Origin 13
2.1.2 Philosophy
2.1.3 Psychological Skills 14

2.1.3.1 Arousal Control 14
2.1.3.2 Self-Talk 15
2.1.3.3 Imagery 15
2.1.3.4 Pre-performance Routines 16
2.1.3.5 Goal Setting 16

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2.1.4 Research 17
2.1.5 Critique 18

2.2 MINDFULNESS-ACCEPTANCE-COMMITMENT IN SPORT 18

2.2.1 Origin 18

2.2.1.1 Origin of Mindfulness 18
2.2.1.2 Origin of Acceptance-Commitment 20
2.2.1.3 Origin of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment
Approach 21

2.2.2 Philosophy 21
2.2.3 Psychological Practices 22

2.2.3.1 Mindfulness versus Mindlessness 22
2.2.3.2 Acceptance versus Avoidance 23

2.2.3.3 Commitment versus Motivation 24

2.2.4 Research 25
2.2.5 Critique 28

2.3 MINDFULNESS-ACCEPTANCE-COMMITMENT
AS FOCUS OF THIS STUDY 28

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH INQUIRY 31

3.1 CONTEXT 31

3.1.1 Sport Context 31
3.1.2 Academic Context 31
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3.2 POSITION 32

3.2.1 Descriptive Phenomenology 32

3.2.1.1 Origin 32
3.2.1.2 Ontology 33
3.2.1.3 Epistemology 33
3.2.1.4 Methodology 33
3.2.1.5 Axiology 35
3.2.1.6 Rhetoric 36

3.2.2 Interpretive Phenomenology 36

3.2.2.1 Origin 36
3.2.2.2 Ontology 36
3.2.2.3 Epistemology 37
3.2.2.4 Methodology 37

3.2.2.5 Axiology 39

3.2.2.6 Rhetoric 40

3.2.3 Interpretive Phenomenology as Research Position for this Study 40

3.2.3.1 Previous Knowledge of the Phenomenon 40
3.2.3.2 Subjective Relationship with Participants 41
3.2.3.3 Contextual Factors 41

3.3 PARTICIPANTS 41

3.3.1 Sampling Method 41
3.3.2 Sampling Criteria 42
3.3.3 Selection of Participants 42

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3.4 PROCESS 43

3.4.1 Permission 43

3.4.1.1 Faculty Permission 43
3.4.1.2 Organisational Permission 44

3.4.2 MAC Programme 44

3.4.2.1 Development 44
3.4.2.2 Facilitation 44
3.4.2.3 Reflections 46
3.4.2.4 Data Collection 47
3.4.2.5 Transcriptions 48
3.4.2.6 Analysis 48

3.4.3 Quality 49

3.4.3.1 Journal 49

3.4.3.2 Supervision 50

3.5 ETHICS 50

3.5.1 Privacy 50

3.5.1.1 Anonymity 50
3.5.1.2 Right to Refuse Disclosure 51
3.5.1.3 Right to Confidentiality 51

3.5.2 Informed Assent 51
3.5.3 Informed Consent 51
3.5.4 Dual Roles 52
3.5.5 Support 52
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3.5.6 Storage 52

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS (Participant 1) 54

4.1 MINDFULNESS 54

4.1.1 Learning 54

4.1.1.1 Understanding 54
4.1.1.2 Conflict 55
4.1.1.3 Habits 55

4.1.2 Application 56

4.1.2.1 Valuable 56
4.1.2.2 Threats 56
4.1.2.3 Psychological Skills Training 58

4.1.3 Transference 58

4.1.3.1 Surprised 58
4.1.3.2 Valuable 58
4.1.3.3 Threats 59

4.2 ACCEPTANCE 60

4.2.1 Learning 60

4.2.1.1 Assisting Factors 60
4.2.1.2 Challenging 60

4.2.2 Application 61
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4.2.2.1 Difficulty 61
4.2.2.2 Avoidance 62

4.2.3 Transference 63

4.2.3.1 Valuable 63
4.2.3.2 Difficulties 64

4.3 COMMITMENT 65

4.3.1 Learning 65

4.3.1.1 Motivation and commitment 65
4.3.1.2 Requirements 65

4.3.2 Application 66

4.3.2.1 Motivation and Commitment 66

4.3.2.2 Improving Factors 67
4.3.2.3 Valuable 67

4.3.3 Transference 67

4.3.3.1 Difficulties 68
4.3.3.2 Solution: Mindfulness 68
4.3.3.3 Valuable 69
4.3.3.4 Improving Factors 69

CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS (Participant 2) 71

5.1 MINDFULNESS 71
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