Enhancing wellbeing, long-term development, and performance in youth sport: insights from experienced applied sport psychologists working with young athletes in the United Kingdom

Thrower, SN, Barker, JB, Bruton, AM, Coffee, P, Cumming, J, Harwood, CG ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9862-824X, Howells, K, Knight, CJ, McCarthy, PJ and Mellalieu, SD, 2023. Enhancing wellbeing, long-term development, and performance in youth sport: insights from experienced applied sport psychologists working with young athletes in the United Kingdom. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. ISSN 1041-3200

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Abstract

Although applied sport psychologists are supporting young athletes drawing on experiential evidence of what works, there is a lack of understanding regarding how to effectively help young athletes enhance their wellbeing, long-term development, and performance. The aim of the current study was to gain insights into the consultancy process from accredited applied sport psychologists working with young athletes (5–18 years) in the United Kingdom, to inform the training and development of practitioners. An Interpretive Descriptive (ID) design was used to generate grounded knowledge relevant to applied practice contexts. The current study was conducted by a British Psychological Society (BPS), Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP), research working group and consisted of two phases: First, working group members (n = 6) participated in two separate focus groups. Second, in-depth interviews were conducted with UK-based sport psychology practitioners (n = 9) who had extensive knowledge and experience of working with young athletes. Reflexive thematic analysis generated six higher order themes: (a) Clear intentions, motives, and boundaries; (b) flexible and adaptable theoretical approaches; (c) seeking and securing connections; (d) multiple perspectives matter; (e) indirect interventions maximize impact; and (f) adaptation and integration determine Psychological Skills Training (PST) effectiveness. The current study offers unique and detailed insights regarding the consultancy process when working with young athletes. Such insights are crucial for applied sport psychologists to promote evidence-informed developmentally appropriate practice.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
Creators:	Thrower, S.N., Barker, J.B., Bruton, A.M., Coffee, P., Cumming, J., Harwood, C.G., Howells, K., Knight, C.J., McCarthy, P.J. and Mellalieu, S.D.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Date:	31 October 2023
ISSN:	1041-3200
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/10413200.2023.2274464 DOI 1832611 Other
Rights:	© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	07 Nov 2023 11:00
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 11:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50297

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