Refine
Document Type
Has Fulltext
- no (8)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (8)
Keywords
- Deaflympics (2)
- Deaf culture (1)
- Deaf sport (1)
- Hearing impairments (1)
- Psychological skills Training (PST) (1)
- psychological skills training (1)
Begutachtungsstatus
- peer-reviewed (4)
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.
Introduction: Consultant Effectiveness is one of the main pillars of successfully implementing Psychological Skills Training (PST) in both elite mainstream and disability sports (Martin, 2015;
Vealey, 2007). Yet, there is a dearth of research on the articularities of PST consultation in elite Deaf Sport (Schliermann, 2015). Since hearing impairments have multiple intrapsychic as
well as interpsychic implications (Leigh & Andrews, 2016), it might influence Consultant Effectiveness in Deaf Sport. Therefore, the main purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate
preconceptions and actual experience of sport psychologists in regard to the consultation of elite deaf and hard-of-hearing (HOH) athletes. Method: A self-constructed questionnaire was administrated to 93 accredited sport psychology consultants (Mconsultant-years = 10.78) in
German-speaking countries. They were asked about their awareness, opinions and experience with deaf and HOH athletes. Results: Seven consultants (8%) reported ever to have worked with a deaf or HOH athlete. Four had ever watched a competition of the Deaflympics
in comparison to 77 who had watched one of the Paralympic games. Yet most subjects (71%) declared their willingness to work with deaf or HOH athletes regardless of their years of experience as consultants or prior contact with deaf or HOH individuals. In addition, the vast majority of the sample evaluated the implementation of common PST techniques in Deaf Sport as potentially “very effective” or “extremely effective”. When asked about potential particularities in the work with this group of athletes, most consultants focused mainly on communication issues. Conclusion: The analyses revealed a lack of awareness of elite Deaf Sport within the professional sport psychology communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Furthermore, a low rate of professional PST implementation in elite Deaf Sport was found in these countries. Considering the lack of experience and knowledge about the particularities in Deaf Sport, further research is needed to provide hearing consultants with tools to understand the world of elite deaf and HOH athletes beyond the means of communication with them.
In der Literatur fehlen weitgehend empirische Erkenntnisse zum Psychological Skills Training (PST) mit hörbeeinträchtigten Spitzensportler_innen. Die vorliegende empirische Studie analysiert die Anwendbarkeit des TOPS-D1-Fragebogens als geeignetes Diagnostikverfahren für hörbeeinträchtigte Spitzenathlet_innen. Außerdem werden bedeutsame Rahmenbedingungen zur effektiven Durchführung von PST untersucht. Im Hauptergebnis ist festzuhalten, dass psychometrisch geprüfte standardisierte Fragebögen bei hörbeeinträchtigten Athlet_innen nur eingeschränkt eingesetzt werden können. Darüber hinaus sind
auch beim Trainingsprozess besondere Rahmenbedingungen zu beachten.