The Impact of a Workshop on Athletic Training Students’ Sport Psychology Behaviors

Abstract

The current study’s primary purpose was to determine the impact of a sport psychology workshop on athletic training students’ sport psychology behaviors. Using a quasi-experimental research design, partial randomization was used to assign athletic training students (n = 160) to a treatment group or control group. A 2 × 2 repeated measures MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate effect for Group x Time interaction [Wilks’s Λ = .22, F (5, 154) = 1, p < .001, η2 = .77]. Follow up ANOVAs revealed significant interactions for all sport psychology behaviors (allp < .01) except referring an injured athlete to a sport psychologist. Results from the current study revealed that members of the experimental group reported a significant increase in their use of total sport psychology behaviors at the six week follow-up when compared with those in the control group. Such increases highlight the need for increased exposure of athletic training students to sport psychology. Given the potential benefits that could be derived from the incorporation of sport psychology skills and techniques into injury rehabilitation by athletic training students’, the assertion that injured athletes’ physical rehabilitation could be enhanced with the incorporation of psychological skills and techniques appears to be supported.