Endorsement and Constructive Criticism of an Innovative Online Reflexive Self-Talk Intervention

Abstract

This study prospectively followed the experiences of skilled athletes who were involved in an innovative reflexive self-talk online intervention targeting goal-directed self-talk. Four experienced female athletes between the ages of 20 and 40 years were invited to an initial interview, a 4-week intervention, and two post-intervention interviews. Two applied sport psychologists used an online Socratic questioning approach to encourage their athletes to describe challenging scenarios, think about their use of self-talk and its effectiveness, and explore alternative self-statements that could be used in future situations. Data were multi-sourced stemming from the psychologists, athletes, and third parties (e.g., coach). Three athletes completed the intervention, whereas one athlete withdrew prematurely, mainly because the Socratic questioning approach and the online mode of delivery did not meet her preferences. From the three athlete who had completed the intervention, there was endorsement and constructive criticism of the intervention and its online delivery mode. The intervention, largely due to the accompanying raised awareness of self-talk use and refined content, seemingly benefited a range of variables including emotions, motivation, and confidence, both inside and outside of the athletes’ sports life domain. Accordingly, this new type of online intervention warrants further consideration in the literature.

The use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) to increase the self-determined motivation and psychological well-being of triathletes.

“…Future research should endeavour to more meaningfully gauge the opinions of participants in receipt of REBT in order to form valuable insights into intervention delivery, efficacy, and veracity. A good example of how constructive criticism could be approached in applied research can be seen in the recent work of Latinjak, Hernando-Gimeno, Lorido-Méndez, and Hardy (2019). But more broadly, much of the extant REBT research draws on single-case designs, and future research should concentrate on the use of more experimental designs such as those including control groups (e.g., Turner, Slater, & Barker, 2015) and randomised control trials (e.g., Stefan, Cristea, Szentagotai-Tatar, & David 2019).…”

Antecedents and Consequences of Outward Emotional Reactions in Table Tennis

“…Since our study suggests that in certain situations there is an increased likelihood of both positive and negative outward emotional reactions, it seems promising to tailor the use of sport psychological techniques to psychological demands of such situations (Martinent et al, 2015). Here, reflexive self-talk interventions could raise awareness of the players' organic self-talk in such situations, which would possibly help to address potential irrational performance beliefs and subsequent outward emotional reactions (Latinjak et al, 2019). Furthermore, relaxation strategies (e.g., systematic breathing; progressive muscle relaxation) can help to deal with increased arousal in situations that are associated with a higher likelihood of outward emotional reactions (Pineschi and Di Pietro, 2013).…”

The effects of REBT on irrational beliefs, self-determined motivation, and self-efficacy in American Football

“…Recent literature on the use of rational and irrational beliefs as self-talk (Turner, Wood, Barker, & Chadha, 2020) shows that the way self-talk can change as a result of REBT is similar to the procedures described in the in reflexive self-talk intervention posited by Latinjak, Hernando-Gimeno, Lorido-Méndez, and Hardy (2019). The GABCDE framework reflects a process of reflexively and meta-cognitively analyzing past self-talk (irrational Bs) and exploring alternate self-talk (rational Bs) to cope with future adversities (As).…”