Facilitating the coping self-efficacy and psychological well-being of student rugby players

Abstract

Research into the 'dual careers' (simultaneous academic and sport endeavours) of student-athletes is growing. There is a need to optimise student-athletes' transition from high school to tertiary institutions. The aim of this study was, first, to determine the personal, academic, and sporting needs of student rugby players, and, second, to evaluate the effectiveness of a purposefully developed experiential-learning programme on the coping self-efficacy and psychological wellbeing of first-year university rugby players. Players were evaluated prior to and 1 month after the intervention. The experiential-learning programme group showed significant improvements in all the measured variables, whereas the non-experiential-learning programme control group's scores remained unchanged. When corrected for the pre-test differences, the experiential-learning programme group outperformed the non-experiential-learning programme group in terms of problem-focussed coping, dealing with negative emotions and thoughts, obtaining support from family and friends, as well as overall happiness. The experiential-learning programme contributed to facilitating coping self-efficacy and psychological well-being of student rugby players.

The dynamics of appraisal: a review of 20 years of research using the Fortitude Questionnaire

“…The FORQ has demonstrated favourable reliability across studies but there were a few exceptions. Laureano et al (2014), explaining the low reliability found in that study, stated that it is realistic to expect a reliability coefficient below .70 for psychological constructs, while Wissing et al (2008) attributed the low reliability on the self-appraisal subscale to a more collectivistic as opposed to an individualistic worldview among Black respondents. However, measurement aspects such as factor structure and reliability are characteristics of scores and not of tests; therefore, these characteristics may differ between sets of scores generated by the same instrument.…”

“…The majority of studies reported favourable indices of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), ranging from .63 to .91. Some exceptions were related to the self-appraisal subscale (see Laureano et al, 2014; Talbot, 2012; Wissing et al, 2008). The pattern of reliabilities for the FORQ and the subscales were similar across the majority of studies in that the total FORQ scale was the most reliable and the self-appraisal subscale was the least reliable.…”

“…For example, the FORQ has been used as a single scale (T. B. Pretorius et al, 2016), a total scale with subscales (Padmanabhanunni, 2020), only subscales (Laureano et al, 2014), and only selected subscales (Peters, 2005). Some studies (e.g., Botha et al, 2007) have used the family-appraisal subscale as a conceptual reflection of family support.…”

“…The FORQ has been used as an outcome variable to assess the effect of interventions, including a resilience programme (De Villiers & Van den Berg, 2012), an experiential-learning programme (Laureano et al, 2014), and a programme intended to enhance well-being (Van Schalkwyk & Wissing, 2013). Participants exposed to these interventions reported higher fortitude, self-, and support appraisals.…”

Beyond factor analysis: Insights into the dimensionality of the Fortitude Questionnaire through bifactor statistical analysis

“…The FORQ has generally demonstrated sound internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) in previous studies, with a few exceptions mostly related to the self-appraisal subscale (Laureano, Grobbelaar, & Nienaber, 2014;Talbot, 2012). Both exploratory (Yuwanto & Atmadji, 2017) and CFA (Wissing, Du Toit, & Michael Temane, 2008) have provided support for the conceptualisation of the FORQ as consisting of a total scale and three subscales.…”