Examining the Impact of a Short-Term Psychological Skills Training Program on Dancers' Coping Skills, Pain Appraisals, and Injuries

Examining the Impact of a Short-Term Psychological Skills Training Program on Dancers’ Coping Skills, Pain Appraisals, and Injuries Leigh A. Bryant Psychological skills interventions are often conducted with individual athletes and sports teams in an effort to build mental toughness, prevent injury, or enhance performance. Dancers remain an underserved population in the delivery of sport/performance psychology services, with extremely limited literature addressing college dance students. The dance community has several inherent physical and psychosocial demands, which can promote resilience. However, dancers may also strive to meet these demands by employing unhealthy coping strategies that could be linked to maladaptive appraisals and increased injury risk. The present study examined the impact of a psychological skills intervention program on college dance students’ (N = 30) coping skills, pain appraisals, and injuries over a six-week period. A two-group pre-test/post-test quasiexperimental methodology was used to capture the potential influence of the intervention program. At the end of the six-week period, there were no significant differences observed between the treatment and control groups on the three major constructs. In particular, the results demonstrated the need for a single, operational definition of injury within the dance context. A focus group discussion led to several recommendations for future research and improvements for mental skills and life skills intervention programs. Best practices for scholars, applied practitioners, and dance educators are also discussed. IMPACT OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my Committee Chair, Dr. Damien Clement, for your thorough feedback and encouragement throughout the dissertation process. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee—Dr. Ed Etzel, Dr. Monica Leppma, Professor Kelly Knox, and Dr. Sam Zizzi—for the time and energy that you put into helping me complete this project. A big “thanks” to all of the faculty, staff, and students in the Sport & Exercise Psychology and Counseling programs at West Virginia University. Another big “thanks” to the dancers who took part in this study, and the instructors and administrators who supported their participation. Special thanks to Alison Coates, Jana Fogaça, Stefanee Maurice, and Anna Onderik for your interest in and contributions to this project. Finally, thank you to my parents—Neil and Jennifer Bryant—and to my husband—Kurt Skvarla—for your love and support. IMPACT OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction . 1 Methodology . 8 Research Design . 8 Participants . 8 Dance Program Characteristics and Setting . 9 Instrumentation . 12 Basic Demographics Survey . 12 Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 . 12 Pain Appraisal Inventory . 15 Injury Tracking Survey . 17 Dance Experiences Survey . 18 Intervention Program . 19 Adherence Journal . 21 Procedure . 21 Data Analyses . 25 Results . 27 Descriptive Statistics . 27 Quantitative Results . 28 Qualitative Results . 29 Exploratory Findings . 33 IMPACT OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM v Discussion . 36 Limitations . 53 Future Recommendations . 57 Implications for Practice . 62 Concluding Thoughts . 66 References . 67 Tables . 77 Appendices . 88 Appendix A: Extended Review of Literature . 88 Appendix B: Basic Demographics Survey . 138 Appendix C: Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 . 141 Appendix D: Pain Appraisal Inventory . 144 Appendix E: Injury Tracking Survey. 146 Appendix F: Dance Experiences Survey . 149 Appendix G: Intervention Protocol Outline . 155 Appendix H: Intervention Program Exercises and Activities . 157 Appendix I: Adherence Journal . 167 Appendix J: Participant Contact Information Form. 168 Appendix K: Semi-Structured Interview Guide for Focus Group Discussion . 169 Appendix L: Stakeholder Interview Findings . 170 Appendix M: Sample Self-Talk Statements and Associated Bible Verses . 173 IMPACT OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM BRYANT