Raising Our Game: The Necessity and Progression of Expertise-Based Training in Applied Sport Psychology

At present, training in applied sport psychology chiefly targets and accelerates professional competence. However, theory and evidence suggests that our clients would experience significant benefit if our training targeted and accelerated professional expertise rather than just competence. Specifically, we argue that expertise-based training can (a) help trainees to go on to break the “thinking ceiling” of competence; (b) foster a more independent, flexible, and creative form of practice; and (c) support a longer term and more practitioner-centered training philosophy. To deliver these benefits, we then conclude by outlining some key principles for the progression of expertise-based training in applied sport psychology.

Lay Summary: In light of the inconsistencies that still surround professional training in ASP, we discuss the merits that a more expertise-based agenda can bring to practitioners and, most important, our clients. We also discuss ways in which this agenda can be progressed to support an evidence-informed evolution of ASP training systems.     

Enhancing Reflective Practice in Multicultural Counseling Through Cultural Auditing

Counselors work in an increasingly complex cultural milieu where every encounter with a client must be considered multicultural in nature. Reflective practice is a central component of professional competence and necessarily involves attention to culture. The cultural auditing model provides an effective and flexible reflective process for enhancing multicultural counseling. The 13 steps in the model are detailed with probes and questions to guide counselor reflection. A case example illuminates the principles involved.     

Psychological adjustment in patients post-curative treatment for oesophageal cancer: a longitudinal interview study

Objective: Oesophageal cancer is an increasingly prevalent disease with a demanding post-curative treatment recovery period and sustained longer-term effects. Although post-curative treatment is a key transitionary period, the process of psychological adjustment for the individual is under-researched which limits the evidence base to inform supportive care. The aim of this study was to understand the process of adjustment for oesophageal cancer patients post-curative treatment, in particular the beliefs participants hold regarding their condition and how these are appraised against their experience.

Design: Serial interviews were undertaken with six oesophageal cancer patients who have recently completed curative treatment, at baseline and at 6-month follow-up using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Results: The findings demonstrate an effortful process of adjustment, including recognising and accepting a changed self, fostering control beliefs over the course of the illness and physical sequelae, searching for meaning, developing illness coherence and moving away from self-blame.

Conclusions: This study is the first to utilise a longitudinal qualitative design in oesophageal cancer, and provides an understanding of post-treatment adjustment over time for this clinical population through which to inform clinical practice and service development.     

The influence of partial reinforcement on serial autoshaping with pigeons

The effect of partial reinforcement on the rate of responding during the first element of a serial compound was investigated using autoshaping in pigeons. Experiment I employed the illumination of a response key by two different colours as the elements of the compound. Responding during the first element was faster when this stimulus was intermittently paired with the second element and the unconditioned stimulus than when a continuous reinforcement schedule was employed. Experiment II demonstrated that this effect of partial reinforcement is unaffected by maniuplating the associative strength of the second element at the outset of compound conditioning. A similar effect of partial reinforcement was also found in Experiment III which used a tone as the first element of the serial compound.