INTERNET-BASED MINDFULNESS-ACCEPTANCE-COMMITMENT IN SPORTS: A RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Abstract: The psychological aspects of sports is crucial for performance and important for sustaining good mental health. Despite this, efforts to improve those aspects are surprisingly rare and partly due to stigmatization of help-seeking together with lack of time and economic resources. However, in recent decades much research on internet-based interventions have been conducted. Also, a growing body of empirical support for the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment approach (MAC) related to enhancement in performance and mental health in sports has emerged. This study was the first to explore the effects of internet-based MAC, which was conducted with the digital self-care programme ACTSPORT with or without feedback. Of 193 participants (aged 18 - 71, from 40 different sports on a variety of levels) who were randomly assigned to feedback, non-feedback and waitlist group, 125 completed the study. The results showed that participants who completed ACTSPORT with feedback experienced significantly enhanced performance, reduced performance anxiety and improved mental health, which included higher quality of life and less symptoms of depression. These improvements were predicted by significant improvements in acceptance and dispositional mindfulness. A larger effect was found for participants with feedback which indicated that some support is preferable. In conclusion, the present study indicate that internet-based interventions in sport may be  effective, time-saving, cost-effective, flexible and available means for both enhancement in performance and aspects of mental health.