Examining the Effects of Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment Training on Self-Compassion and Grit among Elite Female Athletes.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based interventions are well-established in the field of psychotherapy, and such interventions have also gained increased attention in the field of sport psychology, either to cope with psychological pressure or to improve an athlete's performance. The goal of the present study was to examine whether a Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) program could increase self-compassion and grit among elite female athletes compared to an active control condition. To this end, we performed a randomized trial among female adult athletes. METHODS: Forty female adult athletes (Mage = 22.22, SD = 2.40) were randomly assigned either to the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment group (n = 20; 7 group sessions, 60 min each) or the active control group (n = 20; 7 group sessions, 60 min each). At baseline, seven weeks later at the end of the study and again four weeks later at follow-up, participants completed a series of self-rating questionnaires on mindfulness, self-compassion and grit. RESULTS: Dimensions of mindfulness, self-compassion and grit improved over time, but more so in the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment condition compared to the active control condition. Improvements remained stable from the study end to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: While the active control condition improved dimensions of mindfulness, self-compassion and grit among female adult athletes, improvements were much stronger in the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment condition. Importantly, improvements in the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment condition remained stable over a time lapse of four weeks at follow-up after study completion, suggesting that the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment intervention appeared to improve cognitive-emotional learning processes.

The Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Program on the Incidence of Injuries in Young Male Soccer Players.

The authors tested the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based program in reducing sport-injury incidence. A total of 168 young male elite soccer players were randomly assigned to mindfulness and control groups. The mindfulness group consisted of seven sessions based on the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment approach, while the control group consisted of seven presentations on sport-injury psychology. Athlete exposure and injury data were recorded during one season. State and trait mindfulness, sport anxiety, stress, and attention control of participants were assessed. Number of injuries, average of injuries per team, and days lost to injury in the mindfulness group were significantly lower than those in the control group. Mindfulness and attention control were lower and sport anxiety and stress were higher in injured players than in noninjured players. Psychological variables were associated with injury. Mindfulness training may reduce the injury risk of young soccer players due to improved mindfulness and attention control and reduced sport anxiety.

Transcranial direct current stimulation on prefrontal and parietal areas enhances motor imagery.

Considering the potential effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve motor imagery the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of tDCS on prefrontal and postparietal cortex in hand mental rotation (HMR). This investigation was a single-blind, randomized study which 60 healthy right-hand college students (30 males and 30 females, age 24.27±0.19 years) volunteered to attend. Using a simple random method, participants were divided into four groups: anodal: F4 (n=15) and P4 (n=15), sham: F4 (n=15) and P4 (n=15). Participants were asked to perform HMR task before and after five sessions of tDCS. Results showed that there is a significant difference between the pretest and post-test of reaction time (t=10.09, d.f.=29, P=0.005) and accuracy (t=-5.04, d.f.=29, P=0.005) in two sites (F4, P4) in anodal group, also two-way analysis of variance of HMR reaction time showed significant main effect of Group (F=52.458, P=0.000, ηP=0.488) indicating faster response in postanodal Group and Site (F=6.561, P=0.013, ηP=0.107) indicating better response in F4, and in HMR accuracy a significant main effect of Group (F=13.659, P=0.001, ηP=0.199) but not for the main effect of Site (F=0.499, P=0.483, ηP=0.009). According to the findings of the study, it is suggested that tDCS on both prefrontal and postparietal cortex could improve HMR with more effect on prefrontal area.