Designing an Online Psychological Skills Training Program for Para-Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to overview the development and design of an online psychological skills training (PST) program for para-athletes. Specifically, this program demonstrates how PST can be tailored for para-athletes and delivered through online learning modules. Eight learning modules on the following psychological skills is presented: goal setting, imagery, self-talk, routines, concentration, managing emotions, psyching up, and relaxation. Included for each module are the strategies by which PST was tailored for para-athletes and a detailed account of how interactive activities were embedded in the learning modules. Ten practical recommendations for tailoring PST content for para-athletes and delivering online content are also discussed. This information can be used to promote the use of PST with para-athletes and offer guidance for those interested in designing online sport psychology programs.

Keywords:

• Accessibility
• intervention
• learning modules
• mental skills
• para-sport

Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for their funding to the second author in support of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The literature on PST consists of various approaches to understanding and designing such programs (e.g., see Durand-Bush et al., 2022; Hardy et al., 1996; Vealey, 2007). While we appreciate the value in each of these approaches, we have chosen to simplify our terminology in this article to focus on the practical application of each topic (which we refer to as “psychological skills”). The reader should be aware that other texts may use terms such as mental skills, strategies, techniques, tools, or competencies to reference such constructs.

2 For other practical examples of how to design a PST intervention using the education, acquisition, and practice framework, we recommend reviewing the work of Ely et al. (2021) and Munroe-Chandler et al. (2023).