Drivers of Change in Mindfulness- and Acceptance-Based Interventions with Athletes: Investigating the Influence of Dosage, Readiness, and Attitudes
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Multi-method, quasi-experimental longitudinal study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 59 |
| Population | Female- and male-identified NCAA collegiate athletes from one Division II team (n = 16) and three Division III teams (n = 43) at two universities in the Appalachian region |
| Intervention | Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) |
| Duration | 6-week intervention with 6-week follow-up |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Compared with waitlist controls, athletes who received the six-week MSPE program reported reductions in depressive symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties and improvements in self-rated sport performance; at six-week follow-up they showed increased mindfulness and sport enjoyment and sustained reductions in emotion regulation difficulties. The authors report that higher post-intervention readiness was associated with greater mindfulness, life satisfaction, sport enjoyment, and practice engagement, while pre-intervention readiness did not predict changes. |
Abstract
Mindfulness- and Acceptance-based interventions (MABIs) are being used with increasing frequency with sport participants. Research suggests that such interventions may promote sport performance and impact performance-relevant factors, although the current quality and quantity of research is low. Specifically, questions about intervention engagement (i.e., dosage), potentially impacted by stage of change and attitudes toward sport psychology, need clarification. The present study utilized a multi-method, quasi-experimental longitudinal design with female- and male- identified NCAA collegiate athletes to investigate the effects of an MABI. Specifically, one NCAA Division II team (n = 16) and three NCAA Division III teams (n = 43) from two universities in the Appalachian region engaged in 6-week Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE) interventions during their offseason or pre-season training period. Two teams served as the primary treatment group while two others served as the non-randomized waitlist control group; they were all assessed on measures of flow, psychological distress, mindfulness, emotion regulation difficulties, satisfaction with life, readiness to engage in mindfulness practice, attitudes toward sport psychology, and subjective ratings of performance and enjoyment. Mindfulness dosage was also measured throughout and following the intervention. Compared to controls, initial MSPE participants reported reductions in depressive symptoms and emotion regulation difficulties, and improvements in self-rated sport performance; at 6-week follow-up, initial MSPE participants reported significant increases in mindfulness and sport enjoyment, in addition to sustained reductions in emotion regulation difficulties. Though pre-intervention readiness did not predict changes across the intervention, higher post-intervention readiness classification was associated with improvements in mindfulness, life satisfaction, and sport enjoyment. Higher post-intervention readiness was also associated with significantly more engagement (i.e., dosage), though neither dosage nor attitudes toward sport psychology demonstrated evidence of moderation on the relationship between readiness and outcomes. These data suggest that readiness may impact engagement in MABIs, though it is still unclear whether there are indirect effects of dosage and attitudes toward sport psychology on outcomes in MABIs with athletes.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 36
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Mechanisms of mindfulness Journal of Clinical Psychology December 29, 2005
- Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation Perspectives on Psychological Science October 10, 2017
- How long does a mindfulness‐based stress reduction program need to be? A review of class contact hours and effect sizes for psychological distress Journal of Clinical Psychology March 23, 2009
- Home practice in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of participants' mindfulness practice and its association with outcomes Behaviour Research and Therapy May 10, 2017
and 31 more in the library