Identifying the Characteristics of a Sport Psychologist Competencies: Athletes' and Consultants' Perspective

Abstract

Background: In the process of psychological programs as a specialized stream, the psychologists should know their clients better and finally find the right solution to solve the problem Methods: The research method was mixed. In the qualitative, content analysis method was used and in the quantitative section, structural equation model was used. First, 11 interviews were conducted with experts in the field of sports psychology. In the latter stage, the number of samples was 108 (including 44 sports psychologists and 64 national team athletes). Qualitative and quantitative methods of descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation analysis were used for data analysis using PLS Smart 3.2 software. Results: Results indicated that the extracted categories in qualitative part of the study included personality traits, consulting skills, knowledge and expertise, professional ethics, sports knowledge, and cognitive ability. The exploratory factor analysis showed that communication skills component was replaced with the knowledge and expertise. Conclusions: According to the results, both sports consultants and athletes believed that characteristics and abilities of a good psychologist include consulting skills, personality traits, communication skills, cognitive skills, and professional ethics. However, regarding the variable of sports knowledge, the athletes emphasized this factor more and believed that an effective sports psychologist should have the necessary sports knowledge in the field.