A Psychological study of the effect of a stress and anxiety reduction programme in an athletic context

Abstract

Stress and anxiety are innate aspects of athletic competition, and often result in inhibited performance, and ultimately contribute to an unfavourable competition outcome. In order to perform optimally at high levels of competition, athletes need not only physical training, but mental training as well. However, in South Africa, professional intervention is not always available to these athletes in times of need, and in-game intervention is impossible. Thus efficient and practical psychological performance enhancement techniques demands elements of autonomy. Existing psychological skills training typically relies on consistent professional instruction, and subsequently lacks practicality in the South African context. The purpose of this study is to design a novel stress and anxiety reduction programme for athletes, and to evaluate the effect of the programme in an athletic context. The programme was designed with the intention of promoting autonomous use of the skills, and is comprised of coherent breathing, mindfulness, and visualisation techniques. A quantitative methodological framework was adopted for the study. The quantitative data was collected using the Mindful Acceptance Awareness Scale (MAAS), the Mental Skills Inventory (MSI), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT), and the State-Trait Personality Inventory Form Y (STPI-Y). The sample consisted of 97 participants, spanning over 30 sporting disciplines. 30 participants did not complete the stress and anxiety reduction programme, while 67 did, creating a faux control group of 30 participants. The data was collected pre- and post-intervention to determine the effect of the novel stress and anxiety reduction programme. Significant differences were observed between pre- and post-test results for participants’ dispositional mindfulness, perceived stress, competition anxiety, and state anxiety (p<0.05). The novel stress and anxiety reduction programme has proven effective at reducing stress and anxiety in an athletic context, to some extent. Recommendations are that the programme be used by athletes as an autonomous method of stress and anxiety reduction.

Key Terms: Stress reduction, anxiety reduction, athletic competition, athlete, mindfulness, coherent breathing, visualisation, sport psychology, autonomous performance enhancement