Examining the Effects of Brief Mindfulness Training on Athletes' Flow: The Mediating Role of Resilience.

Fengbo Liu,Shuqiang Liu,Nan Zhang,Zhongqiu Zhang,Parco M Siu

doi:10.1155/2021/6633658

Abstract

Background Flow is characterized by the strong concentration in competitions, eliminating irrelevant thoughts and emotions, integrating all tasks, and continuing the competition smoothly even in challenging situations. The present study was into whether or not brief mindfulness training can improve athletes' flow and further explore the mediating effect of resilience in the intervention. Methods The 2 (experimental conditions) × 2 (time) mixed design was used in this study. Fifty-seven student-athletes were recruited and randomly assigned into either a brief mindfulness group (n = 29) or a control group (n = 28). Before and after the intervention, every participant completed a self-report measure including mindfulness, flow, and resilience. Results Participants in the brief mindfulness group showed increased mindfulness, flow, and resilience (p < 0.001) after brief mindfulness training; when putting resilience change (B = 0.30, 95% CI [0.031, 0.564]) into the equation, the direct (95% CI [3.156, 13.583]) and indirect (95% CI [0.470, 5.048]) effects of mindfulness training were both significant. Conclusion It was concluded that brief mindfulness training could significantly improve athletes' flow and resilience, and resilience partly mediated the effects of brief mindfulness training on flow.

Highlights

With the continuous improvement of science, technology, and training level, the differences in techniques and tactics of athletes are gradually reduced. erefore, the psychological state has been regarded as the key factor for athletes to win in competitions and has continuously attracted the attention of researchers. “ e optimal competitive state” theory [1] pointed out that the optimal psychological state was the basis for athletes to compete on the court
Compared to traditional cognitive behavioural training, which builds on the rationale of controlling or changing the contents of performers’ undesirable psychological events in order to achieve the optimal psychological states [3], mindfulness training is an alternative approach for individuals to experience their psychological events
Athletes’ optimal psychological state that has been most discussed in recent years is “flow.” Flow is characterized by strong concentration in competitions, eliminating irrelevant thoughts and emotions, integrating all tasks, and continuing the competition smoothly even in challenging situations [6], which has an important positive effect on the performance of athletes. erefore, how to increase athletes’ flow has become an important topic in the field of sports

Summary

Introduction

With the continuous improvement of science, technology, and training level, the differences in techniques and tactics of athletes are gradually reduced. erefore, the psychological state has been regarded as the key factor for athletes to win in competitions and has continuously attracted the attention of researchers. “ e optimal competitive state” theory [1] pointed out that the optimal psychological state was the basis for athletes to compete on the court. With the aim of improving athletes’ psychological state (e.g., flow or well-being) and managing their mental health disorders (e.g., anxiety or depression), mindfulness has been integrated into cognitive behavioural training in the sport context [2]. Athletes’ optimal psychological state that has been most discussed in recent years is “flow.” Flow is characterized by strong concentration in competitions, eliminating irrelevant thoughts and emotions, integrating all tasks, and continuing the competition smoothly even in challenging situations [6], which has an important positive effect on the performance of athletes. Flow is characterized by the strong concentration in competitions, eliminating irrelevant thoughts and emotions, integrating all tasks, and continuing the competition smoothly even in challenging situations. E present study was into whether or not brief mindfulness training can improve athletes’ flow and further explore the mediating effect of resilience in the intervention. It was concluded that brief mindfulness training could significantly improve athletes’ flow and resilience, and resilience partly mediated the effects of brief mindfulness training on flow

Objectives

Methods

Results