ENHANCING GRIT IN ELITE ATHLETES THROUGH FUNCTIONAL IMAGERY TRAINING

Chapter six, study three was adapted for publication in The Sport Psychologist in 2018: Rhodes, J., May, J., Andrade, J., & Kavanagh, D. (2018). Enhancing grit through functional imagery training in professional soccer. The Sport Psychologist, 32(3), 220-225.Grit has been researched across a wide variety of domains with negative correlations to drop out rates and positive associations to performance. However, there has been little to empirically change character through interventions, and even fewer in sport. A total of six studies are presented through a mixed-method approach to initially gain an understanding how grit is created, and the processes involved in developing the trait (Studies One and Two). From the phenomenological findings, a bespoke Functional Imagery Training (FIT) intervention is initially tailored to athletes and delivered (Study Three). With ceiling effects present from our performance athletes (and those in Study Two) on the Grit Scale, a modified Sporting Grit Scale (SGS) is developed through the help of a small focus group, and then administered to 181 athletes to determine validity and reliability over time (Study Four). Thereafter (Study Five), the SGS is administered to 161 athletes across three levels of competition (elite, performance and talent) and participants randomly split into control or an adapted FIT for Groups condition, where players receive imagery together. Athletes in the FIT for Groups condition significantly increased their grit and perceived performance scores. The final study (Six) was conducted to examine if FIT for Groups was similar to PETTLEP and a control condition based on a penalty kick task and the SGS. Findings showed that PETTLEP and FIT for Groups significantly enhanced penalty performance over a week, however, after more than 15 weeks later only the FIT for Groups condition maintained their performance score. Increases in grit score were only observed in the FIT for Groups condition. This thesis develops motivational imagery by offering a guide to holistic imagery, developed from FIT, which merges theory and application from motivation, therapy, and imagery, to promote long lasting behaviour and character change for athletes. In addition, it is hoped that this thesis will act as a guide for other practitioners working with groups in other domains and can help promote a gritty mindset which influences performance.This research was sponsored by the University of Plymouth Psychology Department

Enhancing Grit through Functional Imagery Training in Professional Soccer

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) extends multisensory imagery training by involving athletes with goal setting and appraisal. We measured the effect of FIT on 24 professional soccer players’ grit, a personality trait associated with perseverance for a long-term goal. In a stepped-wedge design an immediate (n=9) and delayed (n=10) group received FIT at week 1 or week 6, and were measured at week 12. A self-selected control group (n=5) received no intervention. The delayed group were also measured at week 6 just before their intervention, and week 18. Grit scores in both intervention groups increased following the intervention, but the control group did not. The delayed group increased in grit between weeks 6 and 12, showing the effectiveness of the intervention over a relatively short timeframe, and continued to improve to week 18. In intervention groups, vividness of goal imagery also increased, and players perceived that FIT improved sports performance

Functional Imagery Training to reduce snacking: Testing a novel motivational intervention based on Elaborated Intrusion theory

Functional Imagery Training (FIT) is a new theory-based, manualized intervention that trains positive goal imagery. Multisensory episodic imagery of proximal personal goals is elicited and practised, to sustain motivation and compete with less functional cravings. This study tested the impact of a single session of FIT plus a booster phone call on snacking. In a stepped-wedge design, 45 participants who wanted to lose weight or reduce snacking were randomly assigned to receive a session of FIT immediately or after a 2-week delay. High-sugar and high-fat snacks were recorded using timeline follow back for the previous 3 days, at baseline, 2 and 4 weeks. At 2 weeks, snacking was lower in the immediate group than in the delayed group, and the reduction after FIT was replicated in the delayed group between 2 and 4 weeks. Frequencies of motivational thoughts about snack reduction rose following FIT for both groups, and this change correlated with reductions in snacking and weight loss. By showing that FIT can support change in eating behaviours, these findings show its potential as a motivational intervention for weight management

Functional Imagery Training, a novel, theory-based motivational intervention for weight-loss

This thesis investigates the acceptability and efficacy of Functional Imagery Training (FIT), a motivational intervention for weight-management. FIT is based on Elaborated Intrusion Theory, delivered in the style of Motivational interviewing (MI), and designed to promote sustained behaviour change and address cravings. It trains the habitual use of affective, goal-directed mental imagery of personal incentives, using imagery to plan behaviours, anticipate obstacles, and mentally try out solutions from previous successes. Participants are taught to update their imagery from their experience, and to generalise their imagery skills to new goals. In study 1, focus groups explored problems and wishes in regards to weight-management, including reactions to Functional Imagery Training (FIT) as a possible intervention. The issue of waning motivation and the desire for motivational app support was expressed in all groups. Participants were positive about FIT. Study 2 was an uncontrolled pilot trial of FIT. Eleven out of 17 participants (65%) lost 5% body weight or more by three months. Participants continued to lose weight during an unsupported 12-month period and experienced mean weight loss of 6kg (SD= 5.7; d=1.06) and mean waistline reduction of 11.5 cm (SD= 7.4; d=1.56) at 15 months. Study 3 compared the impact of FIT with MI on motivation and self-efficacy, over the first month of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) for weight-loss. Structured elicitation and training in goal-related imagery, i.e., FIT, increased motivation and self-efficacy for weight-loss relative to MI. Study 4 was the RCT for weight-loss, comparing FIT and MI over an intervention-supported six-month period, followed by six months unsupported. The FIT group achieved clinically meaningful weight-loss at 6 months (M kg-loss=4.11) and continued weight-loss at 12 months (M kg-loss=6.44); the MI group stabilised by 12 months (M kg-loss=.67), after minimal weight loss at 6 months (M kg-loss=.74). Study 5 qualitatively explored experiences of MI and FIT RCT participants, upon completing the 6-month intervention phase. MI participants wished for continued therapist- support and feared relapse. FIT participants described a mind-set-change and were confident they could maintain changes and overcome challenges using imagery techniques. Given the demonstrated benefit of motivational imagery in weight-control, FIT should be considered and further tested as an intervention for health behaviour change

Alcohol consumption in young adults: the role of multisensory imagery.

Accepted 19.11.2013Little is known about the subjective experience of alcohol desire and craving in young people. Descriptions of alcohol urges continue to be extensively used in the everyday lexicon of young, non-dependent drinkers. Elaborated Intrusion (EI) Theory contends that imagery is central to craving and desires, and predicts that alcohol-related imagery will be associated with greater frequency and amount of drinking. This study involved 1,535 age stratified 18- 25 year olds who completed an alcohol–related survey that included the Imagery scale of the Alcohol Craving Experience (ACE) questionnaire. Imagery items predicted 12-16% of the variance in concurrent alcohol consumption. Higher total Imagery subscale scores were linearly associated with greater drinking frequency and lower self-efficacy for moderate drinking. Interference with alcohol imagery may have promise as a preventive or early intervention target in young people

Coaching Imagery to Athletes with Aphantasia

We administered the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (Psi-Q) which tests multi-sensory imagery, to athletes (n=329) from 9 different sports to locate poor/aphantasic (baseline scores <4.2/10) imagers with the aim to subsequently enhance imagery ability. The low imagery sample (n=27) were randomly split into two groups who received the intervention: Functional Imagery Training (FIT), either immediately, or delayed by one month at which point the delayed group were tested again on the Psi-Q. All participants were tested after FIT delivery and six months post intervention. The delayed group showed no significant change between baseline and the start of FIT delivery but both groups imagery score improved significantly (p=0.001) after the intervention which was maintained six months post intervention. This indicates that imagery can be trained, with those who identify as having aphantasia (although one participant did not improve on visual scores), and improvements maintained in poor imagers. Follow up interviews (n=22) on sporting application revealed that the majority now use imagery daily on process goals. Recommendations are given for ways to assess and train imagery in an applied sport setting

People trying to lose weight dislike calorie counting apps and want motivational support to help them achieve their goals.

Open access journa

The Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire: A 10-year retrospective and implications for addiction treatments

Ten years after the publication of Elaborated Intrusion (EI) Theory, there is now substantial research into its key predictions. The distinction between intrusive thoughts, which are driven by automatic processes, and their elaboration, involving controlled processing, is well established. Desires for both addictive substances and other desired targets are typically marked by imagery, especially when they are intense. Attention training strategies such as body scanning reduce intrusive thoughts, while concurrent tasks that introduce competing sensory information interfere with elaboration, especially if they compete for the same limited-capacity working memory resources. EI Theory has spawned new assessment instruments that are performing strongly and offer the ability to more clearly delineate craving from correlated processes. It has also inspired new approaches to treatment. In particular, training people to use vivid sensory imagery for functional goals holds promise as an intervention for substance misuse, since it is likely to both sustain motivation and moderate craving

Brief Negative Affect Focused Functional Imagery Training Abolishes Stress-Induced Alcohol Choice in Hazardous Student Drinkers

This is the final version. Available from Hindawi via the DOI in this record. Data are available on request.Introduction. Imagery-based stress management therapies are effective at reducing alcohol use. To explore the therapeutic mechanism, the current study tested whether brief functional imagery training linked to personal negative affect drinking triggers would attenuate sensitivity to noise stress-induced alcohol seeking behaviour in a laboratory model. Methods. Participants were UK-based hazardous student drinkers (N=61, 80.3% women, aged 18–25) who reported drinking to cope with negative affect. Participants in the active intervention group (n=31) were briefly trained to respond to personal negative drinking triggers by retrieving an adaptive strategy to mitigate negative affect, whereas participants in the control group (n=30) received risk information about binge drinking at university. The relative value of alcohol was then measured by preference to view alcohol versus food pictures in two-alternative choice trials, before (baseline) and during noise stress induction. Results. There was a significant two-way interaction (p<.04) where the control group increased their alcohol picture choice from baseline to the noise stress test (p<.001), whereas the active intervention group did not (p=.33), and the control group chose alcohol more frequently than the active group in the stress test (p=.03), but not at baseline (p=.16). Conclusions. These findings indicate that imagery-based mood management can protect against the increase in the relative value of alcohol motivated by acute stress in hazardous negative affect drinkers, suggesting this mechanism could underpin the therapeutic effect of mood management on drinking outcomes.Alcohol Research UKAlcohol Chang