Week 10 - Working with Coaches and Organisations

Question 1

direct vs indirect approach (definitions)

Answer 1

• direct = sport psychology delivered to the athletes by the psychologist
• indirect = sport psychology delivered by the coach, supported/directed by sport psychologist
• pros and cons for both
• Martin et el., 2009 - meta analysis found little difference overall in the impact of direct vs indirect approach

Question 2

strengths of the direct approach

Answer 2

• expertise
• distance
• neutrality
• safety
• respect/credibility
• outsider

Question 3

strengths of the indirect approach

Answer 3

• player response/compliance
• respect/credibility
• maintain control of leadership role
• trust
• relational

Question 4

weaknesses of the direct approach

Answer 4

• outsider
• relational
• engagement
• organisational barriers

Question 5

weaknesses of the indirect approach

Answer 5

• coach competence
• coach overload

Question 6

coaches as performers

Answer 6

• coaches should be considered as performers as they are required to deal with difficult situations (Gould et al., 2002)
• which can lead to strain (Fletcher et al., 2006)
• and effect their performance and WB (Miller et al., 2002)

Question 7

stressors for elite coaches

Answer 7

• Thelwell et al., 2008
• performance related (athlete)
• performance related (coach)
• organisational (environmental)
• organisational (leadership)
• organisational (personal)
• organisational (team)

Question 8

impact of strain

Answer 8

Thelwell et al., 2017
- changes in verbal communication style
- changes in appearance and behaviours
- changes in coaching style
- changes in interaction style with players and others
- non-coach-oriented signals

Question 9

stressors, coping and WB amongst coaches

Answer 9

Norris et al., 2017- systematic review
- coaches experience a variety of organisational, contextual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal stressors
- coaches use a variety of coping strategies (problem solving; social support; escaping stressful environment)
- basic psychological needs satisfaction/thwarting is the key factor relating to coach WB

Question 10

psychological support for coaches

Answer 10

• range of avoidance, approach and emotion-focused coping strategies
• psychological skills training (PST) appears to have an impact
• challenging for sport psychologists to work with coaches due to perceptions

Question 11

coaches perceptions of sport psych

Answer 11

Cook and Fletcher, 2017
- negative previous experiences, lack of understanding, unease with service, threat to coach-swimmer relationship
- recognition of importance, scope of target client groups, roles with the coaches, confidentiality issues, practitioner characteristics

Question 12

working with organisations

Answer 12

• where you can have the biggest impact
  1) organisational psychology to design and build a culture of excellence (organisational = majority of stressors)
  2) provision of 1-to-1, performance focused psychological support for athletes and staff (Nesti, 2010)