Watson, Dean R., Hill, Andrew P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6370-8901, Madigan, Daniel J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9937-1818 and Donachie, Tracy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5697-2974 (2023) Effectiveness of an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy programme for perfectionism in soccer players. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology.

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Abstract

There is currently limited understanding of how to reduce perfectionism in sport. With research outside of sport as impetus, in the present study, we evaluated the effectiveness of an online Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based intervention for reducing perfectionism and improving precompetition emotions in soccer players. Following a preregistered protocol, 81 female soccer players (M age = 24.28 years, SD = 6.77) were randomly allocated to either an intervention group (n = 41) or a waitlist control group (n = 40). The intervention group had access to a set of online ACT-based modules for 8 weeks. Athletes completed measures of trait perfectionism, perfectionism cognitions, and precompetition emotions preintervention and postintervention. A 2 (group) × 2 (time) analysis of variance revealed significant interaction effects for trait perfectionism, perfectionism cognitions, and precompetition emotions. Following the intervention, the two groups displayed significant mean differences for trait perfectionism, perfectionism cognitions, and almost all precompetition emotions. However, due to lower reliability of some instruments, findings regarding postcompetition emotions were discounted. The findings suggest that online ACT-based interventions may be a viable and effective way to reduce perfectionism in soccer players (but not necessarily improving precompetition emotions). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000333
School/Department:	School of Science, Technology and Health
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/8715

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