The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Challenges of Sport Psychology Delivery in Elite and Professional Sport: Reflections From Experienced Sport Psychologists
Open accessAbstract
The challenges encountered by sport psychologists operating within elite and professional sports teams have arguably been inadequately considered (Nesti, 2010). It has been suggested that this may be due to the inaccessibility of elite team environments (Eubank, Nesti, & Cruickshank, 2014; Nesti, 2010). The purpose of this research was to examine the challenges facing practitioners who operate in elite environments and to illuminate how these were experienced. Qualitative interviews with six experienced applied sport psychologists were conducted and a narrative themed analysis undertaken. Four main themes emerged as most prevalent and meaningful: challenges to congruence, a broader role: managing multiple relationships, the influence of elite sport cultures, and surviving and thriving were presented in narrative form. Practitioners provided experiential insight into how specific challenges were understood and dealt with, and how they are able to provide an effective service while managing themselves and the demands of the environment.
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“Elite sport offers a very different environment to daily life or clinical contexts and places high demands on athletes' behaviour (Birrer & Morgan, 2010; McDougall, Nesti, & Richardson, 2015; Swann, Moran, & Piggott, 2015).”
From Integrated mindfulness-based intervention: Effects on mindfulness skills, cognitive interference and performance satisfaction of young elite badminton players. (2020) · cites this paper as McDougall et al., 2015
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Cites
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Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Cruickshank, A., & Collins, D. (2013). Culture change in elite sport performance: An important and unique construct. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, 9(2), 6-21.
- Kvale, S., & Brinkmann, S. (2009). Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research and interviewing (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Cited by
Ekstrand, J., Lundqvist, D., Davison, M. J., D’Hooghe, M., & Pensgaard, A. M. (2018) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099411 · Cited by 210
An organizational perspective on applied sport psychology in elite sport
Wylleman, P. (2019) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.01.008 · Cited by 50
A Commentary and Reflections on the Field of Organizational Sport Psychology
Wagstaff, C. R. D. (2018) · Journal of Applied Sport Psychology · doi:10.1080/10413200.2018.1539885 · Cited by 45
The rocky road to individuation: Sport psychologists’ perspectives on professional development
McEwan, H. E., Tod, D., & Eubank, M. R. (2019) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.101542 · Cited by 53
Ekengren, J., Stambulova, N. B., Johnson, U., & Carlsson, I. (2018) · International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1080/1612197x.2018.1486872 · Cited by 45
Metadata
- Authors
- McDougall, M., Nesti, M., & Richardson, D.
- Affiliations
- Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- McDougall, Michael
- Venue
- The Sport Psychologist
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Published
- 2015-09
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 265-277
- ISSN
- 0888-4781 (ISSN-L)
- 1543-2793
- OpenAlex
- W2120388782
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 8.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- The Sport Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- Liverpool John Moores University (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Sociology, History and Politics of Sport
- Keywords
- sport psychology practice, elite sport, professional sports, practitioner challenges, practitioner role, professional relationships, practitioner well-being
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