The Development and Evaluation of an Education and Support Program to Enhance Sport Parents' Emotional Intelligence
Creators: Pynn, Shannon
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2023

<p>The overall purpose of this dissertation was to develop and evaluate a web-based education and support program to enhance parents’ emotional intelligence (EI) in youth sport. This dissertation contains three projects which depict the development and evaluation of the program created. The first project was a scoping review aimed at exploring how parents identify, express, use, understand, and manage their own and others’ emotions in relation to youth sport. The scoping review was based on the tripartite model of EI (Mikolajczak, 2009) and conducted using Levac et al.’s (2010) scoping review guidelines. Eighty relevant sport parenting studies were reviewed, and consultation focus groups were conducted with ten sport parents and six former youth athletes. The findings demonstrated parents’ emotion knowledge and abilities in youth sport. Parents were able to articulate their emotions and empathize with their children, understand their children and engage in emotionally supportive behaviours, and employ strategies to manage their own emotions. The results were used to inform the educational content of a web-based the sport parent education and support program designed for youth ice hockey parents, called the Sport Parent Emotions and Coping Support (SPECS) program. </p>

<p>The second project was a paper outlining the development of the SPECS program. The development of the program was guided by the scoping review and the tripartite model of EI. A logic model was created, which outlined the program’s objectives, theoretical assumptions, available resources, and desired outcomes. In addition to describing the development of the SPECS program, this paper includes recommendations for researchers and sport psychology practitioners interested in implementing sport parent education and support initiatives (e.g., using a logic model, knowledge tailoring, and identifying partnerships).  </p>

<p>The purpose of the third project was to deliver and evaluate the SPECS program. A sequential explanatory mixed methods program evaluation approach was used (Creswell &amp; Plano Clark, 2018). Canadian ice hockey parents (N = 29) were assigned to an experimental or control group and were administered pre- and post-program questionnaires to assess their trait EI. Qualitative interviews were also conducted with 11 parents from the experimental group at the end of the program. The quantitative results yielded a significant interaction effect and increased levels of trait EI following parents’ completion of the SPECS program. The qualitative results revealed aspects of the program content (e.g., relevance, provision of tools and strategies) and delivery (e.g., convenience, interactivity), and lightbulb moments (e.g., learning about themselves, their children, and ice hockey) that contributed to the program’s positive effects. Taken together, the projects in this dissertation provide a novel, theoretically informed approach to supporting sport parents. Furthermore, this research yields practical implications and future directions for researchers, sport psychology practitioners, coaches, and members of sport organizations who are interested in sport parent education and support initiatives.  </p>