TY - JOUR A1 - Markov-Glazer, Alon A1 - Elbe, Anne-Marie A1 - Schliermann, Rainer T1 - Sport psychology consultants’ views on mental training with elite Deaf sport athletes T2 - International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology N2 - The elite sport movement for athletes with hearing impairments, namely Deaflympics, differs from the Paralympic and Olympic sport movements because it exhibits a variety of distinct sociocultural and organisational characteristics. Yet, mental training with Deaflympic athletes receives little to no attention from the scientific community. Little is known about sport psychology consultants’ (SPCs) work with Deaflympic athletes. In this study, we explored SPCs’ exposure to so called Deaf sport as well as their experiences, attitudes, and assumptions regarding the utility of psychological skills training (PST) with Deaflympic athletes. A self-constructed questionnaire with closed and semi-open questions was completed by 93 (58.8% female) SPCs in European German-speaking countries. Analyses revealed SPCs had limited exposure to Deaflympic sport but indicated readiness to work with Deaflympic athletes. SPCs shared no reasons as to why PST skills and techniques would not be effective with Deaflympic athletes. However, SPCs regarded communication challenges as a major obstacle. We conclude that the integration of elite Deaf sport in SPCs’ training programmes is vital, considering SPCs’ lack of exposure and experience with Deaflympic athletes as well as their communication insecurities. In addition, further empirical research on PST effectiveness in Deaflympics athletes should provide the foundation for evidence-based utility of applied sport psychology in Deaflympic sport. KW - Deaf culture KW - Deaflympics KW - psychological skills training Y1 - 2023 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-oth-regensburg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/6559 SN - 1557-251X N1 - This work was supported by the German Federal Institute of Sport Science (BISp) under Grant number [ZMVI4-070401/19-20]. AMG received a doctoral scholarship from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF). SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Taylor & Francis ER -