Personal qualities of effective sport psychologists: a sports physician perspective

Abstract Previous literature within applied sport psychology offers little detailed discussion regarding the personal qualities of sport psychology practitioners and the impact of these qualities on practice. This paper presents an exploration of the views of sport physicians regarding the personal characteristics and qualities of applied sport psychologists deemed necessary for effective practice. Five UK-based physicians and one Head of Medical Services, working in a range of elite and professional sports, were interviewed about their experience and perceptions of working with sport psychologists. The interview transcripts were content analysed and trustworthiness criteria applied. Four key themes emerged from the data, labelled ‘Personal qualities’, ‘Relationship Building’, ‘Professionalism in Practice’, and ‘Similarities between Psychologist and Physician’. The findings within each theme offered interesting insights into the impact of personal qualities on effective sport psychology practice. This study extends the existing literature on sport psychologists’ characteristics and effectiveness and offers new insights into their personal qualities and how these interact with the practice environment. The findings supported the growing emphasis within the field on the importance of the person behind the practitioner. Suggestions are offered with reference to the need to consider how literature from counselling psychology and medical training could assist the development of practice and education and training in sport psychology

Demanding by Design: Supporting Effortful Communication Practices in Close Personal Relationships

The investment of effort into personal communication can be highly meaningful to people, and has particular significance for the mediation of close relationships. This paper presents qualities of effort investment that are seen to be valuable. Furthermore, we consider how these qualities might sensitise designers of communication technologies to the meaningfulness of effort. We report a qualitative study focusing on individual descriptions of meaningful effort invested into everyday correspondence. We encapsulate our findings in the form of five qualities that characterise valued effort: discretionary investment, personal craft, focused time, responsiveness to the recipient, and challenge to a sender’s capacities. Drawing on ideas generated in brainstorming sessions, we present two illustrative concepts for new communication technologies, highlighting how our findings can guide the creation of designed artefacts

A Tribute to Hon. George Bundy Smith -- Colleague, Teacher, and Friend

A tribute to Judge George Bundy Smith, discussing his work ethic both as a judge, professor, and mentor, his principles as a jurist, and his personal qualities

Professional-Personal Qualities as a Basis for Development of Professional Competence Of The Educator

The article deals with general scientific provisions on the problem of development of professional and personal qualities. Psychological and pedagogical views on the professional and personal qualities of the teacher, including approaches to the definition of this concept are analyzed and generalized; the point of view of scientists on the identification of a complex of professional and personal qualities is considered. It is stated that professional and personal aspects cannot be separated in pedagogical activity. Professional qualities are defined as individual characteristics of the subject of educational interaction that affect the effectiveness of the activity itself and the success rate of its assimilation, which are stable, significant, equal and can be observed. The professional qualities of the modern teacher of preschool education are considered. It is emphasized that professional competence characterizes the ability to perform professional tasks on the basis of professional knowledge and skills that integrate with the development of personal professionally-significant qualities. It is established that the definition of the concept is carried out using the following categories: the integrated ability of the individual to successfully perform the activity; professional and personal qualities; possession of professional competence. The article deals with general scientific provisions on the problem of development of professional and personal qualities. Psychological and pedagogical views on the professional and personal qualities of the teacher, including approaches to the definition of this concept are analyzed and generalized; the point of view of scientists on the identification of a complex of professional and personal qualities is considered. It is stated that professional and personal aspects cannot be separated in pedagogical activity. Professional qualities are defined as individual characteristics of the subject of educational interaction that affect the effectiveness of the activity itself and the success rate of its assimilation, which are stable, significant, equal and can be observed. The professional qualities of the modern teacher of preschool education are considered.It is emphasized that professional competence characterizes the ability to perform professional tasks on the basis of professional knowledge and skills that integrate with the development of personal professionally-significant qualities. It is established that the definition of the concept is carried out using the following categories: the integrated ability of the individual to successfully perform the activity; professional and personal qualities; possession of professional competence

The designer's self identity - myths of creativity and the management of teams

This paper describes recent research conducted at Sheffield Hallam University in which practicing designers reported on their experiences of working in a cross functional team. The survey related these experiences to the designers’ attitudes to their creativity. Two models for creativity are proposed - one based on the romantic stereotype of the creative genius, the other taking creativity to be an attribute posessed by all human beings in some measure, which can be enhanced by personal effort or by training. Identifying features of cross functional teams which are likely to demand certain personal qualities in designers, the paper notes that these are at odds with the qualities of a ‘romantic - type’ creative person. The link between these qualities, and notions of personality as a set of fixed attributes is pointed out. Several theories of personality which describe mechanisms for change in self identity are described. It is noted that the results of the survey suggest that in many cases designers have a pragmatic attitude to their creativity, despite the prevalence of the romantic stereotype for creativity in the literature of both management and education. Principles are suggested for design education, to enable designers to reflexively re-evaluate creativity as a component of their self identity to enhance their performance as teamworkers

Humility, Forgiveness, and Love -- The Heart of Ethical Stewardship

The purpose of this paper is to identify the nature and importance of ethical stewardship as a powerful contributor to the trustworthiness of leaders – focusing on humility, forgiveness, and love as three leadership qualities that are at the heart of ethical stewardship. We begin by defining ethical stewardship and equating it with Six characteristics of personal trustworthiness. Following that introduction, we explain why humility, forgiveness, and love are vitally important leadership qualities essential to becoming an effective ethical steward and include six propositions relating those three qualities to ethical stewardship. We then offer six insights about humility, forgiveness, and love that can assist those who wish to improve their ability to become ethical stewards to improve their success. We conclude the paper with a challenge to leaders to adopt ethical stewardship as their leadership paradigm

The aesthetic zone of interaction. How are aesthetic design qualities experienced?

The aim of the present position paper is to raise issues concerning aesthetic experience in relation to an ongoing work of designing an artefact encouraging video reporting of personal experiences. The work serves as an example of a design experiment where aesthetic qualities are emphasized, but where the resulting interactions have not yet been analyzed in relation to these qualities. Our position is that the aesthetics of an interactive artefact evolves in the interactive zone between people who use it and the artefact itself. The aesthetic qualities are, thus, crystallized in the use of the artefact – whether it ranks high on a usability scale or not. Just as usability qualities, the aesthetic qualities contain contextual factors of its users, such as their pre-comprehension of the artefact, their cultural background and their emotional states. Furthermore, they include the context of the artefact, such as its physical design and the environment of its use. Our standpoint is consistent with Shusterman’s pragmatist approach to aesthetics, as related by Petersen et al. [2]. This approach promotes aesthetics of use rather than aesthetics of appearance. The experience of aesthetics lies in the interaction with the artefact rather than merely in the visual perception of it

Presence: the search for wisdom in a socially engaged art education project.

A socially engaged art pedagogical and relational experiment brings to light the necessity to trust the unfolding of personal and communal change as elusive yet credible value. Social practices of art, including art for social justice often situate the goals of their artistic project in qualities of relational exchanges. This paper reviews an experiment led through a pedagogy of presence for an open art studio at a homeless shelter for women. Narrated through the structure of Ground, Path, and Fruition, a Shambala conceptualization of life’s change, the paper is written from a personal, and philosophical storytelling approach. It situates the pedagogy of presence in the art studio as a shared method of discovery, experienced differently by every participant. Part social art practice inflected with quiet activism, part meditation, and borrowing from theories of adult learning, the qualities of presence at the open studio offered a centring counterpoise to the precarious living situation experienced by participants, enhancing human connections through shared artmaking, listening, and a sense of social belonging.Accepted manuscrip

Personal qualities of the clinical psychologist

The person within the Clinical Psychologist is not often addressed in Clinical Psychology. The aim of this study as a whole was to consider the person who practices as a therapist and question why as a whole the profession does not acknowledge the more personable aspects of the profession. The literature review (chapter one) looked at the development of Clinical Psychology in the United Kingdom. It illustrated how economic trends and the predominance of the medical model have affected Clinical Psychology practice and training in this country. The review suggests that the more personable aspects of therapy and empirical research are not given their due credence because of the overarching arm of the medical model and it's "specificity" mentality. The first study (chapter two) looked at psychological mindedness (PM) in therapists; something deemed to be almost inherent in this population. The study aimed to gain empirical evidence that PM is associated with adaptive therapist attributes. Correlational analysis revealed significant positive associations between PM and clinician empathy, self understanding and the therapeutic relationship. The second study (chapter three) was concerned specifically with personal therapy in qualified therapists. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of responses to questionnaires revealed personal and professional benefits of engaging in personal therapy. The study also hypothesised that the small response rate evident in this study highlighted the long standing reluctance of psychotherapists in this country to discuss personal experiences of therapy, a concern and matter for further research. Finally the research review (chapter four) considers how I now value the people as paramount in the therapy room rather than the diagnosis. The process which facilitated this change in me is documented and reflected upon

Depoliticisation, demoralisation and depersonalisation - and how to better them

An important contribution to the thinking behind this paper came during a recent discussion of government policies called ‘personalisation’. When asked ‘what is the problem to which personalized learning is a solution?’, one delegate at a deputy heads’ conference replied ‘depersonalised learning’. This simple but powerful point struck a chord and helped me to think further about the way that trends in recent decades have downgraded the focus on human qualities in the field formerly known as education. For this reflection I have chosen three aspects: the political, the moral, and the personal. There could be more – perhaps it is time to coin the word ‘desocialisation’ to describe the way that consideration of social qualities and social processes can be downgraded