Mental Health and Sports Psychology

Researches conducted related to this trend

In a study entitled “Filipino Coaches’ Attitudes Toward Sport Psychology” by Guinto (2016), it
aimed to investigate the coaches’ attitudes toward sport psychology through measures developed and
revised by Zakrajsek and Zizzi (2008) from the original work of Martin, Kellmann, Lavallee, and Page
(2002). The developed Sport Psychology Attitude-Revised Coaches (SPARC-2) has the following
subscales:
(1) “confidence in Sport Psychology Consultation” or the belief that SP consultation and mental training is
beneficial,
(2) “stigma tolerance” or the expected negative consequences of seeking SP consultation,
(3) “personal openness” or the willingness of the respondent to try SP consultation and mental training, and
(4) “cultural preference” or the identification with own nationality, ethnicity, culture, or race.
One-hundred forty-nine Filipino coaches from ten colleges and universities were surveyed on their
attitudes toward sport psychology consultation. The results showed that that there are three primary
dimensions underlying coaches’ attitudes toward sport psychology consultation as measured by the
SPARC-2.Phil: (a) confidence in SP consultation or the belief that SP consultation is useful, (b) stigma
tolerance or the perceived negative consequences of seeing SP consultation and (c) personal similarity
preference or the partiality for a SP consultant perceived to have similarities with the coach and his or her
athletes. The dimension of personal openness was not upheld in the current study among Filipino coaches.
Findings from the current study suggest that personal openness is not as strong of a factor in the
perceptions of Filipino coaches toward SP in relation to the strength of the other factors of confidence in the
SPC, stigma tolerance and personal similarity preference.
The present study further asserts the importance of the SP consultant investing time on building a
relationship of trust with coaches. Given the results that highlight the dimension of perceived similarity
preference as an important factor in the attitudes of Filipino coaches toward SPC, the consultant must
make an effort to understand the coach and his goals for his team, the nature of the sport in which the
consultation is requested, the gender differences intrinsic to the sport, and the values espoused by the
coach for the team. The work of the SP consultant must be perceived as complementary rather than
undermining the role and authority of the coach in relation to his or her athletes.

Sports Psychologist Sheryll M. Casuga in 2011, conducted a sport psychology research

investigating how cultural values and norms impact performance. It’s a qualitative study that aimed to
explore elite Filipino athletes' subjective experience of the bahala na attitude, a culturally normative value.
Specifically, the study examined ways in which athletes' use of the bahala na attitude was experienced as
facilitative or debilitative to their performance. The term 'bahala na' translates literally as 'leave it up to God'
and is an attitude commonly experienced by Filipinos when faced with challenging situations. Eleven
Filipino athletes who have participated in an international sporting competition participated in a semi-
structured interview. Conventional qualitative content analysis was utilized to analyze the data. The
common themes that emerged among the participants' description of their bahala na experience were:
bahala na as adaptive attitudinal coping with anxiety and decision-making in performance situations, bahala
na as an automatic response to routine stress, bahala na as problematic effort reduction, and performance
pressure as prompting context for bahala na. The implications for bahala na attitude as a coping strategy
for performance anxiety, managing expectations, and situational demands in sports and in similar contexts
are discussed.
 In a study by Lopez and Santelices (2011), they sought to investigate what personality
characteristics do elite table tennis athletes of the Philippines have, so as to propose an effective
recruitment program for associations wanting to develop elite table tennis players. The study found out that
elite table tennis athletes of the Philippines obtained high scores on personality factors of
communicativeness, competitiveness, conscientiousness, perfectionism, resiliency, extroversion, and
apprehension. Table tennis like any other sport demands certain personality characteristics that a player
needs in order to be an elite player, such as the capacity to be outgoing and at ease playing in front of a
crowd, being competitive and wanting to win. Perseverance and perfectionism are ingredients to develop
well-honed skills where the game of table tennis with its complexity requires. The desire to achieve and
being committed to the sport are also marks of a top athlete. It is an observation though, that the table
tennis athletes of this study showed high scores in apprehension. This means that the table tennis players,
though belonging to the elite group still are apprehensive and lack confidence in their skills and worry about
what other people think of them. This calls for a psychological skills training program to be included in their
training regimen.

References:
Guinto M.L. (2016) Filipino Coaches' Attitudes Toward Sport Psychology, 1(1), 30- 38, Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/22886675/Filipino_Coaches_Attitudes_Toward_Sport_Psychology

Casuga S. (2011) The Filipino Athlete’s Experience of the Bahala Na Attitude in International Sporting
Competition, Retrieved from http://rizalls.lib.admu.edu.ph:8080/proquestfil/3516477.pdf

Lopez A. & Santelices O. (2011) Personality characteristics of elite table tennis athletes of the Philippines:
basis for a proposed recruitment program, Retrieved from http://kajiantenismeja.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/11/Rani-Meika-1702925-4.pdf