Athlete Attitudes on Sport Psychology Services, Confidentiality, and Service Seeking Behavior
Date of Award
Spring 6-5-2015
Document Type
Masters Research Paper
Degree Name
M.A. in Sport & Performance Psychology
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Mark Aoyagi
Second Advisor
Adam ONeil
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Sport psychology services, Personal openness, Stigma tolerance, Confidence in sport psychology, Cultural preference, Student athletes, National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of Division I NCAA athletes with sport psychology services by analyzing stigmas, both positive and negative, associated with seeking and utilizing sport psychology services, the process of referring others to sport psychology services, and whether or not confidentiality interacts with any of these factors. The Sport Psychology Confidentiality Questionnaire (SPCQ) was created by the researchers to evaluate athlete’s opinions and knowledge of confidentiality. The Sport Psychology Attitudes- Revised (SPA-R) (Martin, 2002) was used to evaluate four categories: personal openness, stigma tolerance, confidence in sport psychology, and cultural preference. A total of 29 student-athletes from Division I universities representing a variety of sports participated in the study. Results of the study showed specific trends lending insight in to how athletes conceptualize confidentiality in conjunction with their attitudes towards sport psychology. The athletes surveyed show a high valuation of confidentiality with their sport psychologist. Results reinforced the status quo of current ethical standards for confidentiality; both contact and content confidentiality are valued. Nearly all of the athletes surveyed were either neutral towards or in favor of an opt-in method for contact confidentiality. Further survey results are discussed, with specific regard to correlations between the SPA-R and confidentiality outcomes, as well as research and practical implications.
Copyright Date
5-2015
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.
Rights Holder
Sarah Cowart, Ryan Marshall, and Kaitlyn Nichols
Provenance
Received from authors
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
52 pgs
File Size
795 KB
Recommended Citation
Cowart, Sarah; Marshall, Ryan; and Nichols, Kaitlyn, "Athlete Attitudes on Sport Psychology Services, Confidentiality, and Service Seeking Behavior" (2015). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 30.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/30