New Zealand athletes' attitudes towards seeking sport psychology consultation

The aim of this study was to use the Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised (SPA-R) questionnaire (Martin, Kellman, Lavallee & Page, 2002) to develop an understanding of the attitudes elite New Zealand athletes (N = 112) hold towards sport psychology so that services can be tailored to accommodate these views. The influence of athlete characteristics such as nationality, gender, age, level of competition achieved, and previous use of sport psychology on attitudes was explored. Further, the SPA-R was used as a measure of attitudes within the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) and Theory Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985, 1991), and integrated with measures of subjective norm and perceived behavioural control to investigate the influence of these variables on predicting athletes' intention to use sport psychology. Results suggested that New Zealand athletes generally held positive attitudes regarding sport psychology, with gender and previous experience of sport psychology significantly influencing attitudes. Regression analyses indicated that the TPB was a better model than the TRA for predicting intention, and the variables predicted 39.7% of variance in intention to use sport psychology. The only SPA-R subscale that contributed significantly was confidence in sport psychology, and perceived behavioural control and subjective norm also contributed significantly. These findings suggest the SPA-R may have limited value in predicting intentions, although the TPB could provide a useful theoretical framework to direct interventions aimed at increasing athletes' intention to use sport psychology. ********** Within a number of countries, including New Zealand, considerable financial investment has recently been made to establish sport academies and institutes. These institutes have been developed to provide athletes with new opportunities to access the services and facilities they need to train, compete, and win at the highest level (New Zealand Academy of Sport, 2003). These services typically involve sport science, including sport psychology. Sport psychologists help athletes improve their psychological skills with the aim of enhancing well-being and the quality of the sport experience (Vealey, 1994). In New Zealand there are currently 21 sport psychologists who are accredited to practice through the sport science governing body (Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand, 2004). Despite this growth in service provision, reports on practice suggest that many coaches and athletes remain reluctant to use sport psychology (Gardner, 2001). A number of practitioners have suggested that use of sport psychology will be influenced by the attitudes athletes hold towards the service (e.g., Leffingwell, Rider, & Williams, 2001; Linder, Pillow & Reno, 1989; Ravizza, 1989). Consequently, Martin and colleagues suggested that practitioners should seek to understand athletes' attitudes towards sport psychology so they can tailor their services to best meet the needs of these athletes and increase usage (Martin, Kellman, Lavallee, & Page, 2002; Martin, Wrisberg, Beitel & Lounsbury, 1997). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with over 1500 athletes from three countries, Martin et al. (2002) developed the 25-item Sport Psychology Attitudes-Revised (SPA-R) questionnaire to gain insight into athletes' perceptions of sport psychology. The SPA-R has a four-factor solution and was found to be robust and stable across groups and countries. The four factors associated with attitudes towards sport psychology assessed by the SPA-R are: (a) Stigma Tolerance, (b) Confidence in Sport Psychology Consulting, (c) Personal Openness, and (d) Cultural Preference. The Stigma Tolerance subscale assesses whether athletes believe that others will label them as having psychological problems if they use sport psychology. For example, one item on this scale is 'Seeing a sport psychology consultant is bad for an athlete's reputation'. …