Brian Hemmings

• Fellow at St Mary's University Twickenham London

Extensive Introduction to the book.

Previous research demonstrates that sport psychology consultants use humor to facilitate working alliances, reinforce client knowledge, and create healthy learning environments. The current study sought to gain further insights into consultants’ reflections on the role of humor, humor styles, purposes for humor, and experiences of humor use. Forty-...

‘Creative efforts’, such as the use of humor, have been found to be beneficial to the nurse-patient, teacher-student, and psychologist-patient alliance. Potentially humor use might benefit the working alliance in applied sport psychology, yet to date there is limited research. Sport psychology consultants (n = 55) completed an online survey that ex...

The purpose of this study was to document the lived experiences of professional cricketers who had encountered a career-ending non-musculoskeletal injury. Three male cricketers each with over nine years of playing experience in professional cricket representing England and Wales participated in retrospective in-depth semi-structured interviews. The...

The aim of this paper is to present a critical reflection on mental toughness using a creative analytic practice. In particular, we move from intrapersonal technical reflections to an altogether more interpersonal cultural analysis that (re)considers some of the assumptions that can underpin sport psychology practice. Specifically, in the ripples t...

This case study describes the application of cognitive behaviour therapy to the sport psychology service to an individual tennis player (Melissa) in the final stages of the QSEP training process. The client was seeking assistance due to depreciation in performance over the past few months, post injury. The client’s mother initially approached the c...

Context: Athletes enter injury rehabilitation with certain expectations about the recovery process, outcomes, and the professional providing treatment. Their expectations influence the effectiveness of the assistance received and affect the overall rehabilitation process. Expectations may vary depending on numerous factors such as sport experience,...

The process of transitioning out of sport can be a significant time in an athlete’s life (Alfermann, 2001), particularly when it occurs due to non-normative reasons (Schlossberg, 1984) such as a sport injury. To date, research into exploring transition out of professional sport due to injury (Park, Lavallee, & Tod, 2013; Wylleman, Alfermann, & Lava...

Existing theoretical frameworks and empirical research support the applicability and usefulness of integrating mental skills throughout sport injury rehabilitation. Objective: To determine what, if any, mental skills athletes use during injury rehabilitation, and by whom these skills were taught. Cross-cultural differences were also examined. Cross...

Context: Research from the sport medicine professional's (SMP's) perspective indicates that SMPs are often required to address psychosocial aspects of injuries during treatment. However, only a few authors have investigated injured athletes' experiences with these concerns. Objective: To explore injured professional athletes' views on the role o...

Context: Athletes enter injury rehabilitation with certain expectations about the recovery process, outcomes, and the professional providing treatment. Their expectations influence the effectiveness of the assistance received and affect the overall rehabilitation process. Expectations may vary depending on numerous factors such as sport experience...

Objectives: Research to date has identified a range of factors suggested to facilitate flow states in sport. However, less attention has focused on how those facilitating factors influence the occurrence of flow. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the specific ways in which such facilitators influenced flow occurrence in European Tour golf. De...

The likelihood of choking in sport is moderated by the athlete’s choice of coping strategy. Yet a lack of consensus exists with regards to which strategies encourage or prevent the choke (see Hill, et al. 2010a). Accordingly, the aim of this study was to explore, through qualitative methods, the coping responses perceived to be associated with chok...

This study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of eight high performing adolescent golfers who had all successfully travelled the path from novice to elite level status. By means of semi-structured qualitative interviews, participants answered questions centred on four key areas which explored th...

This study explored perceptions regarding the experience of flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1975) in elite golf; a sport which is different to those studied previously due to its self-paced, stop-start nature. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 European Tour golfers. Whereas the majority of previous studies have deductively coded da...

The maturation processes of applied sport psychologists have received little research attention despite trainees and practitioners having often reported experiencing challenging circumstances when working with clients. Within clinical psychology literature the self-practice of cognitive techniques, alongside self-reflection, has been advocated as a...

The maturation processes of applied sport psychologists have received little research attention despite trainees and practitioners having often reported experiencing challenging circumstances when working with clients. Within clinical psychology literature the self-practice of cognitive techniques, alongside self-reflection, has been advocated as a...

Athletes routinely use psychological skills and interventions for performance enhancement but, perhaps surprisingly, not always to assist in recovery from injury. This book demonstrates the ways in which athletes and practitioners can transfer psychological skills to an injury and rehabilitation setting, to enhance recovery and the well-being of th...

Previous research has highlighted the use of psychosocial strategies as beneficial during sport injury rehabilitation to help athletes deal with injury related stressors (e.g., Beneka et al., 2007; Wiese-Bjornstal et al., 1998). However, relatively few studies have explored athletes’ actual use of these strategies within the rehabilitation context....

This study examined the nature of developmental, psychosocial and contextual factors experienced by elite adolescent golfers in an effort to establish which factors might be important to achieve elite status in golf. Participants were guided through a structured interview collecting quantitative data (after Cote, Ericsson & Law, 2005). Participants...

Objectives: To date limited information examining factors which determine success in golf exists. Therefore, this study examined the nature of developmental, psychosocial and contextual factors experienced by elite adolescent golfers in an effort to establish which factors might be important to achieve elite status in golf. Design: Mixed methodolo...

To date there has not been a comprehensive discussion in the literature of work-life balance for the sport psychology consultant. The number and complexity of roles often undertaken by consultants may lead to potential stress if roles conflict. Underpinned by Role Theory (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964) and the Spillover Hypothesis (S...

ObjectivesDespite the gradual growth of psychology of injury literature, thus far few studies have investigated physiotherapists' personal experiences in using psychology in their work. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore the physiotherapists' personal experiences in using psychological intervention techniques as part of sport injury...

To gain an insight to the existing suggestions and recommendations on chartered physiotherapists' preferred methods of delivery for further training in sport psychology. 22 delegates (14 women, 8 men) from the 2006 Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine/International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy annual conference (respon...

The purpose of this study was to gain an insight into the use of imagery by Finnish synchronized skaters. A total of 269 skaters (senior=85, junior=98, novice=86) simultaneously completed the original and a translated version of the Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ; Hall, Mack, Paivio, & Hausenblas, 1998) twice, first at the beginning of the pre-se...

In sport psychology, there is a need to deviate from traditional research methods and move towards a more diverse means of analysing data (Biddle, Markland, Gilbourne, Chatzisarantis, & Sparkes, 2001). Past research into chartered sport physiotherapists’ perceptions about psychological aspects of their work in the UK has included three quantitative...

A general consensus within published research subsist about chartered sports physiotherapists desiring further training in the psychological aspects of their work. More or less all published studies (e.g., Francis, Andersen, & Maley, 2000; Heaney, 2006; Hemmings & Povey, 2002; Larson, Starkey, & Zaichkowsky, 1996) have advocated further training in...

To assess, on a national level, the views of chartered physiotherapists with regard to the psychological content of physiotherapy practice. A postal survey to a national list of sport injury and physiotherapy clinics was employed. A total of 361 responses were included in the descriptive statistical and qualitative analyses. The Physiotherapist and...

Very little research has investigated differences in imagery use between open-and closed-skill sports. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of competitive level (elite/novice) and skill-type (open/closed) on athletes' imagery use. A total of 83 British athletes (39 elite, 44 novice) from open-(n = 40: 23 rugby; 17 martial arts) an...

INTRODUCTION Most athletes are psychologically affected when injured (e.g., Arvinen-Barrow et al., 2005) Athletes have perceived a number of emotional responses to athletic injuries (Dawes & Roach, 1997) Research into UK chartered physiotherapists perceptions about the prevailing characteristics in determining coping success has been limited (Heane...

Existing literature suggests that psychological issues can have a significant impact on athletes’ recovery from sport-related injuries and adherence to the treatment processes (e.g., Brewer et al., 2000: Rehabilitation Psychology, 45, 20-37; Ievleva and Orlick, 1991: The Sport Psychologist, 5, 25-40). To date, only two studies examining physiothera...

It has been argued that in physical performance and sport, mental imagery serves two main purposes: (a) skill development and learning, and (b) performance and competition preparation (Martin, Moritz, & Hall, 1999; Rushall & Lippman, 1997).Existing studies suggest that figure skaters frequently use imagery (e.g., Hall, Rodgers, Barr, 1990; Rodgers,...

Several studies have suggested that figure skaters frequently use imagery (e.g. Hall et al., 1990: The Sport Psychologist, 4, 1– 10; Rodgers et al., 1991: Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 3, 109–125). However, only one existing study (Cumming and Ste-Marie, 2001: The Sport Psychologist, 15, 276–288) has investigated imagery use among synchroniz...

Although research into the psychological aspects of sports injury is increasing and psychological interventions have been identified as important in the rehabilitation process, few studies have focused on how sports medicine practitioners deal with psychological problems. To investigate the perceptions of English chartered physiotherapists on the p...

Objectives: Massage is widely used by the athletic population for a variety of purposes such as injury prevention, recovery from fatigue, relaxation, and to increase performance. This paper reviews the scientific literature on the use and effects of massage therapy in sport. Specifically, the review addresses physiological, psychological and perfor...

Massage has a long tradition of use in sport and has been used to facilitate recovery in athletes following training sessions, yet its benefits are not fully understood. Recovery from exercise is assumed to involve a host of factors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of massage on selected psychological and immunological respon...

Despite massage being widely used by athletes, little scientific evidence exists to confirm the efficacy of massage for promoting both physiological and psychological recovery after exercise and massage effects on performance. To investigate the effect of massage on perceived recovery and blood lactate removal, and also to examine massage effects o...

Massage has often been highlighted as a modality for potentially enhancing psychological regeneration during intense training. Despite numerous anecdotal testimonies to its efficacy, little scientific research exists on the effects of massage on psychological states. This study aimed to investigate massage and the mood response following sports tra...

The aim of this field based study was to examine the efficacy of three different interventions on participants matched by degree of debilitative cognitive anxiety. Participants completed a composite version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) which assessed both intensity and direction (debilitative-facilitative) of state anxiety,...

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a somatic intervention technique. Subjects (N = 17) completed a modified version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory 2 (CSAI-2), which assessed both intensity and direction (debilitative-facilitative) of state anxiety within one hour of a soccer league match. During the match, playe...

A general consensus within published research subsist about chartered sports physiotherapists desiring further training in the psychological aspects of their work. More or less all published studies (e.g., Francis, Andersen, & Maley, 2000; Heaney, 2006; Hemmings & Povey, 2002; Larson, Starkey, & Zaichkowsky, 1996) have advocated further training in...