JCSP Mspe Follow Up
JCSP Mspe Follow Up
JCSP Mspe Follow Up
The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the long-term effects of
mindful sport performance enhancement (MSPE), a program designed to improve
athletic performance and psychological aspects of sport. One-year follow-up
assessments were conducted on archers, golfers, and long-distance runners (N =
25) who attended Kaufman, Glass, and Arnkoff’s (2009) and De Petrillo, Kaufman,
Glass, and Arnkoff’s (2009) MSPE workshops. Across the athlete groups, partici-
pants reported significant increases in the ability to act with awareness (an aspect
of trait mindfulness) and overall trait mindfulness from pretest to follow-up, along
with significant decreases in task-related worries and task-irrelevant thoughts (both
aspects of cognitive interference during sport). The long-distance runners exhibited
significant improvement in their mile times from pretest to follow-up, with sig-
nificant correlations between change in runners’ performance and trait variables.
Results suggest that MSPE is a promising intervention associated with long-term
changes in trait variables that may contribute to optimal athletic performance.
The authors are with the Department of Psychology at The Catholic University of America in Wash-
ington, DC.
99
100 Thompson et al.
The goal of the present study was thus to conduct a one-year follow-up of
athletes who had participated in either Kaufman et al.’s (2009) or De Petrillo et al.’s
(2009) investigations of MSPE, adding to the sport psychology literature by examin-
ing the long-term effects of this intervention. Of primary interest was whether the
athletes’ archery and golf scores and running times would show improvement from
pre-workshop to follow-up. We anticipated that the athletes would report reductions
in sport anxiety and disruptive thoughts during sport as well as increases in trait
mindfulness. We also examined whether the athletes continued to practice mindful-
ness skills in the year after the workshops ended. Finally, the present study sought
to determine whether MSPE had any long-term effects on non-athletic domains of
participants’ lives. Specifically, there is evidence that mindfulness meditation leads
to reductions in both clinical anxiety (Baer, 2003; Kabat-Zinn et al., 1992) and the
general anxiety and life stress experienced by non-clinical populations (Shapiro,
Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Williams, Kolar, Reger, & Pearson, 2001). Both
mindfulness and flow are also believed to be associated with increases in quality of
life and satisfaction with life (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Since
non-sport-related stress may be as detrimental to athletic performance as sport-related
stress (Haney, 2004), whether MSPE led to long-term reductions in general anxiety
and stress, as well as to increases in overall life satisfaction, was also of interest.
Method
Participants
Originally, 11 archers, 21 golfers, and 25 long-distance runners from the Washing-
ton, DC metropolitan area attended at least one session of Kaufman et al.’s (2009)
or De Petrillo et al.’s (2009) MSPE workshop. At the time of the workshop, 10
of the archers, 17 of the golfers, and all of the long-distance runners gave written
consent to be contacted for a later follow-up. Of these, 4 archers (40%), 8 golfers
(47.06%), and 13 runners (52%) chose to participate in the current follow-up study.
Of the 25 follow-up participants, 14 were men and 11 were women, ranging in age
from 18 to 72 years (M = 48.28 years). Twenty-three athletes were Caucasian, one
was African-American, and one was Asian/Pacific Islander.
Procedure
One year after the end of each workshop, the original 52 archers, golfers, and
long-distance runners who gave consent to be contacted for follow-up were invited
to participate in the current study and were sent a packet of questionnaires. They
were asked to return the completed questionnaires and one signed informed con-
sent form in the enclosed stamped envelope within two weeks time, resulting in
25 returned packets. Three versions of most measures were used, with wording
specific to each sport.
Measures
Archery Questionnaire (AQ) and Golf Questionnaire (GQ). The 8-item AQ
and the 10-item GQ were both designed for the present study, with a number of
items adapted from Kaufman et al.’s (2009) background questionnaire. Athletes
One Year Follow-Up of MSPE 103
report their best scores in competition and practice within the past year, as well as
approximately how many times per month they currently shoot or play a round of
golf. The AQ and GQ also contain 5-point rating scales and open-ended questions
that assess perceived changes in performance, involvement, and feelings toward their
respective sports since participation in the workshop. They also contain items that
pertain to participation in other sport activities and whether or not athletes received
any additional sport psychology or mindfulness training since the conclusion of
the workshop.
Runner Questionnaire (RQ). The RQ is an 11-item questionnaire that was
adapted from De Petrillo et al.’s (2009) background and follow-up questionnaires.
Initial items ask participants to record their best running times over the past year,
including their best mile time. Further items inquire about running routines,
including any changes in running routine over the past year. Similar to the AQ and
GQ, the RQ also contains items that assess changes in performance, involvement,
and feelings toward running since participation in the workshop and an item
concerning additional participation in sport psychology or mindfulness training.
Workshop Credibility and Expectations Measure (CEM). The Workshop
Credibility and Expectations Measure (CEM; Kaufman et al., 2009) was revised
for the present study in order to assess the current perceived credibility and
usefulness of the mindfulness workshop with seven items using 10-point Likert
rating scales. Kaufman et al. adapted the original CEM from Holt and Heimberg’s
(1990) Response to Treatment Questionnaire, a treatment credibility measure that
was originally developed from the work of Borkovec and Nau (1972).
Follow-up Questionnaire (FQ). Included in the questionnaire packets for archers
and golfers, the 12-item FQ assesses the extent to which participants continued
to practice mindfulness skills after the workshop ended. Additional items ask
participants to rate their life satisfaction and the frequency and intensity of feelings
of anxiety and stress both before and after the workshop on 5-point Likert scales.
They were also asked to rate the degree to which changes in these areas could be
attributed to their participation in the workshop on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a
great deal). In addition, four open-ended questions inquire about how participants
perceived the workshop contributed to any changes in these non-athletic domains.
Follow-up Questionnaire for Runners (FQ-R). Included in the questionnaire
packet for runners, the 19-item FQ-R contains all of the items on the FQ, along with
additional items adapted from De Petrillo et al.’s (2009) background and follow-up
questionnaires. The FQ-R also contains open-ended items concerning current life
stressors, the extent to which the MSPE workshop may have helped participants
to deal with these stressors, and what specifically about the workshop participants
perceived to be helpful to deal with these concerns.
Trait Measures. All three athlete groups received the same trait measures given
at pre- and post-workshop: Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS;
Baer, Smith, & Allen, 2004), Thought Occurrence Questionnaire for Sport
(TOQS; Hatzigeorgiadis & Biddle, 2000), and Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith,
Smoll, & Schutz, 1990). Additionally, the Carolina Sport Confidence Inventory
(CSCI; Manzo, Silva, & Mink, 2001) and the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-
2; Jackson & Eklund, 2002) were completed by the archers and the golfers,
104 Thompson et al.
while the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, &
Rosenblate, 1990) was completed by the long-distance runners. See Kaufman et
al. (2009) and De Petrillo et al. (2009) for a comprehensive description of these
measures.
Results
Comparison of Follow-Up Participants With Nonparticipants
A series of independent sample t-tests and chi-square tests were conducted in
order to determine if any pre-workshop differences existed between athletes who
chose to participate in the follow-up and those who did not. The two groups did
not differ in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, expectations for the workshop, sport
of concentration, the number of years they played their sport, or prior exposure
to sport psychology or meditation practice. Follow-up participants did not differ
from nonparticipants on appraisals of the workshop’s credibility or ratings of
satisfaction with their sport performance at post-workshop. Also, no differences
were found between follow-up participants and nonparticipants on pre- or post-
workshop measures of overall sport anxiety, trait mindfulness, or thought disrup-
tion during sport.
Sport-Specific Comparisons. Those golfers who chose to participate in the
follow-up did not differ from those who did not participate in terms of their initial
handicap, initial best-ever score for a practice round, or initial best-ever score for a
tournament or competition. Although archers and golfers who chose to participate
in the follow-up did not differ from those who chose not to participate with regard
to overall sport confidence at pre-workshop or post-workshop, the follow-up
participants reported experiencing significantly more overall flow (M = 133.08)
than did nonparticipants (M = 118.00) prior to the workshop, t(30) = 2.22, p =
0.034. Archers and golfers who chose to participate in the follow-up also reported
experiencing significantly greater overall flow (M = 137.80) at post-workshop than
did nonparticipants (M = 121.27), t(19) = 2.64, p = 0.016. Due to the very small
number of nonparticipant golfers who provided data on their sport performance at
post-workshop (n = 1), comparisons between best 18-hole round scores at post-
workshop could not be calculated. Long-distance runners who participated in the
follow-up did not differ from those who chose not to participate in terms of the
distances they tended to run, initial best-ever mile time, best mile time at post-
workshop, or overall trait perfectionism at pre- or post-workshop.
One Year Follow-Up of MSPE 105
Pre Post
Trait Variable Workshop Workshop Follow-Up F
Trait mindfulness (n = 22) 130.32 132.86 138.58 6.00**
Observe 38.55 39.41 40.32 2.15
Describe 30.14 31.09 32.67 3.07+
Act with awareness 30.41 30.73 32.82 4.92*
Accept without judgment 31.23 31.64 32.77 1.41
Thought disruption (n = 21) 51.00 47.86 45.63 2.40
Task-related worries (n = 21) 22.95 20.19 20.37 3.41*
Task-irrelevant thoughts (n = 22) 15.73 15.27 13.59 3.63*
Thoughts of escape (n = 22) 12.64 12.55 11.79 0.29
Sport anxiety (n = 20) 35.70 40.35 34.09 7.31*
Somatic anxiety (n = 21) 13.19 14.48 13.66 0.88
Worry (n = 22) 16.18 15.32 15.55 0.6
Concentration disruption (n = 20) 6.45 6.45 5.80 1.70
+p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.
of assessment time was found for archers and golfers for any aspect of sport con-
fidence or dimension of flow or for any aspect of trait perfectionism with runners.
principles and techniques led to reductions in anxiety. When describing the effects
of the workshop on coping with anxiety, six participants gave responses indicating
that mindfulness principles led to an improved ability to cope.
Finally, long-distance runners were asked to respond to a qualitative item
inquiring how the workshop helped them to cope with their life stressors. Five
participants’ responses described how mindfulness principles led to an improved
ability to deal with stressors, while three indicated that an increased ability to relax
or cope with stress led to an improved ability to deal with life concerns.
Discussion
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the long-term effects of MSPE
across different populations of athletes. This study is notable for its use of a one-
year follow-up interval, and to our knowledge, the current study constitutes the first
follow-up assessment conducted on a mindfulness-based intervention for athletic
performance enhancement.
Although the athletes who participated in Kaufman et al.’s (2009) and De
Petrillo et al.’s (2009) studies did not exhibit performance improvement at post-
test, it was hypothesized that participants could show improvement with continued
mindfulness practice. Significant performance improvement was demonstrated for
long-distance runners’ mile times from pretest to follow-up and from posttest to
follow-up. Despite findings of lack of change in golfers’ 18-hole round scores from
pre-workshop to follow-up, it appears that golfers’ scores decreased significantly
during the year following the workshop. Although there was no control group, this
finding of significant performance change is consistent with the growing body of
evidence indicating that mindfulness and acceptance-based sport interventions
have the potential to enhance athletic performance (Bernier et al., 2009; Gardner
& Moore, 2004, 2007; Lutkenhouse et al., 2010; Moore, 2009; Schwanhausser,
2009; Wolanin & Schwanhausser, 2010).
No changes were found in golfers’ reported 18-hole round scores from pretest
to follow-up. It is possible that different results would have been obtained if sport
performance had been assessed in an alternate manner. Specifically, the compari-
son of athletes’ best performance scores in the years before and after the MSPE
workshop may not have been the optimal way of assessing changes in sport per-
formance. Future evaluations of mindfulness-based interventions for athletes may
find average scores to be a more valid index of athletic performance.
One Year Follow-Up of MSPE 111
oneself and one’s experiences. Just as the ability to accept one’s experience without
judgment may improve runners’ sport performance, nonjudgmental acceptance may
also serve to reduce the negative self-rumination characteristic of trait perfectionism.
In turn, these reductions in trait perfectionism may further promote the enhance-
ment of long-distance runners’ athletic performance. The analyses performed in this
study were correlational in nature; therefore, causal conclusions cannot be made.
The present study also examined the relationships between the duration of
participants’ mindfulness practice and changes in both trait variables and sport
performance from posttest to follow-up, but no significant relationships were found.
These results are not entirely surprising, given participants’ infrequent practice of
mindfulness in the year following the workshop. Although visual inspection of
the data suggested greater declines in overall thought disruption from pretest to
follow-up among athletes who endorsed mindfulness practice at follow-up, athletes’
practice of mindfulness at follow-up did not seem to be associated with different
patterns of change in trait mindfulness or overall sport anxiety. Given the emphasis
that is placed on frequent practice of mindfulness in order to achieve desired mental
and behavioral outcomes (Kabat-Zinn, 1990), it is difficult to interpret how the
athletes achieved greater trait mindfulness and improved sport performance without
concomitant mindfulness practice. It seems unlikely that the four-week duration
of the MSPE workshop was sufficiently powerful to render additional mindfulness
practice unnecessary in the year following the workshop. Consequently, there
remains a possibility that regular mindfulness practice is not necessary to maintain
desired mental and performance outcomes among athletes, or that other factors
such as demand characteristics may partly account for the present results. Future
research would benefit from further investigating the utility of regular mindfulness
practice for athletes, as well as the relationship between mindfulness practice, trait
variables, and sport performance in athletes who are more motivated to engage in
continued practice of mindfulness exercises.
De Petrillo et al. (2009) reported that a large percentage of participants
described the application of mindfulness skills to stress reduction and overall well-
being. Although general anxiety and life satisfaction were not specific targets of
the MSPE workshop, it was hypothesized that repeated mindfulness practice both
during and after the workshop might lead to unexpected changes in these non-
athletic domains. In accordance with this hypothesis, the athletes reported significant
decreases in the frequency and intensity of their general anxiety and significant
increases in their life satisfaction at follow-up when compared to retrospective
ratings of these traits before the workshop. Although we cannot conclude that the
workshop was directly responsible for decreased general anxiety and increased life
satisfaction, analysis of qualitative responses indicated that many of the athletes
found mindfulness principles and techniques to be helpful in both reducing and
coping with anxiety. Future research seeking to draw a causal relationship between
mindfulness-based sport interventions and lower anxiety may benefit from inves-
tigating whether an association exists between frequency of mindfulness practice
in athletes and reductions in ratings of general anxiety.
Taken together, the present findings continue to suggest that MSPE is a prom-
ising intervention for athletic performance enhancement. The current study has
its limitations, however, including small sample sizes, which led to low power to
detect significant findings. In addition, although the athletes who participated in this
114 Thompson et al.
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