Innovative Education: Future and Challenge in Educational Research on Teaching and Learning toward Professional Development

Higher Education is considered the final step that enables young adults to become mature, well-trained and efficient employees, ready to embrace a working life. Throughout the world, new programs are constantly created in order to prepare young people, adapting new methodologies and techniques in alignment with the job demand offered by new emerging industries. This study is a guideline on how to initiate a new undergraduate program within high education institutions: it considers fundamental steps that assess and verify the need of such program, and whether it is viable. It then elucidates on all the necessary steps needed to develop a proper curriculum; finally, it enlists approval bodies in order to get the program up and running

The Challenges of Sport Psychology Delivery in Elite and Professional Sport: Reflections From Experienced Sport Psychologists

The challenges encountered by sport psychologists operating within elite and professional sports teams have arguably been inadequately considered (Nesti, 2010). It has been suggested that this may be due to the inaccessibility of elite team environments (Eubank, Nesti, & Cruickshank, 2014; Nesti, 2010). The purpose of this research was to examine the chal- lenges facing practitioners who operate in elite environments and to illuminate how these were experienced. Qualitative interviews with six experienced applied sport psychologists were conducted and a narrative themed analysis undertaken. Four main themes emerged as most prevalent and meaningful: challenges to congruence, a broader role: managing multiple relationships, the influence of elite sport cultures, and surviving and thriving were presented in narrative form. Practitio- ners provided experiential insight into how specific challenges were understood and dealt with, and how they are able to provide an effective service while managing themselves and the demands of the environment

A Culturally Informed Approach to Mental Toughness Development in High Performance Sport

The purpose of the current paper is to explore the importance of culture in the development of Mental Toughness (MT). This is done by means of a critical review of the current literature that exists in relation to the conceptualisation, definition and development of the concept. We argue that despite recent advances in our understanding, most research into MT has focused on the characteristics of mentally tough individuals. Although important and useful, the role of the environment (e.g., Bull et al. 2005; Hardy et al. 2015), culture (e.g., Tibbert et al. 2015), and context (e.g., Fawcett 2011), and how these impact MT and its development has been given somewhat less attention and is perhaps not well integrated into practice. This relative oversight has occurred because of three specific issues; an exclusive focus on the individual; a top down approach to research and the conceptualisation of MT; a lack of awareness that the athlete is always located in a specific organisation and sport culture with its own processes, systems, values and beliefs. In order to more fully capture how MT is constituted and developed, we suggest that future research needs to adopt a wider perspective by drawing on work around the importance of culture in sport, and make greater use of qualitative methodologies, such as grounded theory, narrative, ethnography and phenomenology to capture the culturally rich accounts of participants. Such a shift, as advocated in this paper, provides a primary point of reference to offer fresh insight in our research efforts, and will also have a major influence on practitioner development and training to assist applied sport psychologists and coaches in the practical task of building and supporting MT development in athletes

A Culturally Informed Approach to Mental Toughness Development in High Performance Sport

The purpose of the current paper is to explore the importance of culture in the development of Mental Toughness (MT). This is done by means of a critical review of the current literature that exists in relation to the conceptualisation, definition and development of the concept. We argue that despite recent advances in our understanding, most research into MT has focused on the characteristics of mentally tough individuals. Although important and useful, the role of the environment (e.g., Bull et al. 2005; Hardy et al. 2015), culture (e.g., Tibbert et al. 2015), and context (e.g., Fawcett 2011), and how these impact MT and its development has been given somewhat less attention and is perhaps not well integrated into practice. This relative oversight has occurred because of three specific issues; an exclusive focus on the individual; a top down approach to research and the conceptualisation of MT; a lack of awareness that the athlete is always located in a specific organisation and sport culture with its own processes, systems, values and beliefs. In order to more fully capture how MT is constituted and developed, we suggest that future research needs to adopt a wider perspective by drawing on work around the importance of culture in sport, and make greater use of qualitative methodologies, such as grounded theory, narrative, ethnography and phenomenology to capture the culturally rich accounts of participants. Such a shift, as advocated in this paper, provides a primary point of reference to offer fresh insight in our research efforts, and will also have a major influence on practitioner development and training to assist applied sport psychologists and coaches in the practical task of building and supporting MT development in athletes

Personal Qualities of Effective Sport Psychologists: Coping with Organisational Demands in High Performance Sport.

The purpose of the current study was to explore colleagues’ perspectives of the personal qualities of effective sport psychologists and how these qualities enable practitioners to address the organisational demands they face within their work. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sport physicians (N = 6) and coaches (N = 7). Data analysis identified three main themes: understanding high performance sport environments and cultures, the wider organisational role in high performance sport, and working with support staff in high performance sport. This study provides insight into the wider organisational role of sport psychology in high performance sport and the personal qualities that are fundamental to effective service delivery in this environment. Suggestions are offered regarding how education and training could better prepare practitioners for addressing organisational demands within their role, by developing trainees’ awareness of their personal qualities and providing them with the opportunity to critically explore these qualities in the context of applied sport psychology practice

The effect of Mindfulness Training on Sport Injury Anxiety during rehabilitation

This study investigated whether mindfulness training can play a role in decreasing sport injury anxiety during rehabilitation. Injured participants (N=10) were recruited from different sports and quasi-randomly assigned to either a mindfulness intervention group (n=5) or control group (n=5). Both groups completed the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale and the Sport Injury Anxiety Scale pre- and post-intervention. The intervention group also took part in social validation interviews when the intervention was completed. Mixed factorial ANOVA indicated that there was a significant treatment effect for both mindfulness (p<.01) and sport injury anxiety (p<.01). Additionally, Awareness, Acceptance and Action were the three super-ordinate themes elicited from the social validation interviews. Following an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of this study, the theoretical significance of the results was assessed and the application of mindfulness training in decreasing sport injury-related anxiety during rehabilitation discussed

Vocation: a concept for studying meaningful lives and careers in sport

In the present paper, we explore the notions of vocation and calling and their implications for sport psychology research and practice. We first discuss conceptual issues and outline existential psychology as one potential framework for understanding vocation in sport. Through a review of growing body of literature on vocation and calling in vocational psychology and reflections on applied sport psychology practice, we identify a number of ways these concepts can be used to advance our understandings of athletic career development, motivation, and mental health in sport. Vocation can also help applied practitioners understand athletes’ strive for authenticity and commitment to sport. In summary, we propose that the concept of vocation can be useful for studying meaningful lives and careers in sport