El presupuesto general del Estado

Overview of mental assessment and training in sport - 33 -

In this section, a recapitulatory overview of mental assessment and mental training in the field of applied sport psychology is offered respectively.

With regard to mental assessment, it is defined and differentiated from psychological testing and psychological test in this section. Psychological test is only one type of tools used for mental assessment, and psychological testing is one part of mental assessment in case psychological tests are adopted as tools in a mental assessment. In general, mental assessment is characterized by a multi-method, multi-faceted approach, that is, multiple types of methods are adopted for data collection (e.g., psychological test, interview, behavior observation, etc), and the client is assessed from multiple facets (e.g., performance, feelings and perceptions, etc). Of course, mental assessment can be conducted based on the information from only one type of source (e.g. mental tests or interview). In fact, a great majority of assessment in sport psychology are conducted only based on the information derived from various psychological tests, except for some assessments on the effectiveness of mental skills training, in which both performance and psychological structures are measured to provide information. In the field of applied sport psychology, such multi-method, multi-faceted assessment is especially important for practitioners to diagnose an athlete and to tailor individualized intervention program based on the diagnosis. Considering the above distinctions between mental assessment and mental testing, the MTTS tool is discussed in the present paper as a tool for psychological assessment rather than psychological testing. Specifically, the MTTS tool is both a device to provide tasks as well as a tool for mental assessment, in the execution of tasks provided by the MTTS tool, the respondent can be assessed from multiple facets (e.g., performance, mental skills, perceived effort, etc) through multiple types of methods (e.g, tests, interview, behavioral observation, etc).

In addition, a framework for understanding mental assessment in sport (Vealey, 1998) has been introduced in detail. Within this framework, various issues surrounding

Overview of mental assessment and training in sport - 34 -

mental assessment in sport are classified into four domains: athlete characteristics, contextual characteristics, organizational culture of sport, and consultant characteristics. Vealey stated that “the purpose of the framework is to attempt to provide a common articulation of assessment considerations in applied sport psychology” (p. 444), and she advocated taking into account these domains in any mental assessment in sport to avoid arising of practical and ethical issues. Out of question, this framework is of great significance to get a comprehensive understanding of mental assessment in sport. However, a systematic approach based insight into mental assessment in sport is not reflected through this framework.

With regard to mental training, four aspects related to mental training in sport psychology have been discussed in the present paper. The first aspect is concerned with definitions of mental training and mental skills training. Basically, the term mental training used in sport psychology by various authors can be interpreted as (a) training of mental process, (b) mental practice, and (c) mental preparation (Hackfort & Munzert, 2005). Mental skills training was defined by Gould and Damarjian (1998) as the systematic employment of mental skills in the execution of sport-related goals. This understanding of mental skills training coincides with the idea of mental skills training presented in the present paper: mental skills training refers to teach mental skills as well as systematic use of mental skills in the execution of specific tasks, the process of use mental skills actually is a process of practice mental skills. It is worthy to be noted that mental skills have begun to be taught as life skills through sport participation by many practitioners so that they can be used in other situations beyond sport (see Danish & Nellen, 1997; Hellison, 1995). Andersen (2000) pointed out that psychological skills can be used for a variety of purposes that do not concern performance, e.g., coping with injuries, transitions out of sport, and personal issues. In addition, mental skills training are transferring by more and more sport psychology consultants from sport to business and other fields, for example, working with astronauts, physicians, police officers, firefighters, financial consultants, and dancers.

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In a special issue of the Journal of applied sport psychology (2002, issue 4), there were articles concerned with applying sport psychology principles to work with professionals in other arenas.

The second aspect is concerned with a framework for understanding mental skills training in sport (Vealey, 2007). According to this framework, the process of mental skills training is a complicated process involving philosophy, model, strategies, and techniques, and this process is influenced by social cultural context and physical training. The targets of mental skills training include foundation skills, personal skills, personal development skills, and team skills. This framework is of great significance for getting a comprehensive understanding of mental skills training in sport.

The third aspect is concerned with discussion on some misunderstanding about mental training in sport existing among coaches and athletes. They either think psychological training is not useful, or think psychological training producing effects quickly and easily, or misdeem that psychological training is for elite athletes or “problem” athletes only. These misconceptions about mental training are barriers that might interfere with their acceptance of mental training, their motivation to engage in mental training, their commitment in mental training exercises, and eventually interfere with the effectiveness of mental training. For example, an athlete will not ask for help from sport psychologists on his or her own initiative if the athlete believes that psychological training is useless, even if he or she is asked by coaches to engage in mental training, the athlete will not do his or her best. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to make coaches and athletes have correct understanding about mental training before starting a mental training intervention. Hopefully, the discussion in this section will help to correct the misconceptions about mental training existing among them.

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The last aspect is concerned with the steps for conducting a mental training program in sport. Basically, in sport psychology, mental training program can be conducted based on two approaches: program-centered approach and problem-centered approach (Gould & Carson, 2007). No matter which way is adopted to conduct a mental training program, the key steps that a consultant follows are similar. It should be noted that following similar steps does not mean these step are invariant. For example, depending on time available, sport psychology consultants can either combine some steps into one, or employ some steps in an iterative fashion. Moreover, depending on the ability and skills of the consultants, the effectiveness of the mental training interventions following similar steps might be different. For instance, some consultants establish rapport from athletes and coaches quickly and easily after the step 1 (explain the program purposes and consultant’s role and responsibilities) while others can not; some consultants identify the needs of athletes correctly after the step 2 (conducting assessment to determine specific needs) while others can not.

Elaboration of the MTTS tools - 37 -

3 ELABORATION OF THE MTTS TOOL IN THE FRAME OF AN