Scheduled for Research Consortium Poster Session: Thematic Sport Posters, Thursday, March 15, 2007, 12:45 PM - 2:15 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


A Psychological Intervention Program for Swimmers

Candice E. Zientek, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA

NCAA Division II university swimmers (N=53) participated in an eight week intervention program originally developed by Zientek (2003) and based on an adaptation of Hogg's workbook (2000). Subjects included males (n = 26) and females (n = 27). Swimmers completed an informed consent form prior to participation, and institutional review board permission was gained. Swimmers completed the 27 item CSAI-2 (Martens et. al., 1990) including three nine-item sub-scales: cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence. Alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from .78 to .84. Pre-intervention, swimmers were high in cognitive and somatic anxiety and high in self confidence. Post-intervention, significant decreases in cognitive anxiety were found utilizing paired sample t-tests (t = 4.30, p<.01). Mean scores were reduced from 22.06 to 19.00. Compared to Martens' mean scores, 86% of swimmers were high in cognitive anxiety pre-intervention vs. 71% post-intervention. Somatic anxiety scores were also reduced from 20.63 to 16.35 (t = 5.82, p<.01). Compared to Martens' mean scores, 81% were high in somatic anxiety pre-intervention vs. 44% post-intervention. Self-confidence levels were high and unchanged. Two swimmers scored below 15 on the somatic anxiety CSAI-2 sub-scale and were instructed to set goals to raise somatic anxiety. The rest of swimmers worked on reducing somatic anxiety. Pre-intervention, multivariate analyses showed that females were more cognitively anxious [F (1, 52) =6.87, p<.05], more somatically anxious [F (1, 52) =6.67, p<.05], and less confident [F (1, 52) =9.27, p<.01] than males. Post intervention, no significant gender differences existed in any sub-scale. All swimmers improved their swimming times in their event, as would be expected as the team progressed through the season. Therefore, the usefulness of the intervention was used to assess the program. Swimmers who rated the usefulness of the program phase as either “very useful” or “extremely useful” included: 87% relaxation, 55% race strategy planning, and 45% goal setting. This study supports work by Ward (1997), Zientek (2003), and Short & Short (2005) showing the usefulness of imagery in reducing cognitive anxiety, and work by Burton (1988), Apter (1985, 1990), and Martens et al. (1990) showing lower cognitive and somatic scores led to better performance. By controlling cognitive and somatic anxiety, the athletes may be able to avoid the negative effects associated with high anxiety, and the “catastrophic” performance deterioration identified by researchers such as Hardy (1990).
Keyword(s): coaching, research, sport topics

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