SPRT3191: Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology

• SPRT 2271 Advanced Sport and Exercise Psychology

• None

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• To develop comprehensive knowledge and critical understanding of the application of psychological sciences (theory and research) to sport performance and physical activity/health contexts.
• To develop a critical awareness of the strengths and limitations of applying psychological theories and research to complex and dynamic, and often politicised, delivery contexts, organisations and communities.
• To develop an understanding of, and an ability to apply, key skills required for a range of complex psychological consultancy.

• This module builds on and extends the sport and exercise psychology knowledge and skills offered in years one and two. The content of the module focuses on the application of psychological sciences within complex and dynamic, and often politicised, consultancy contexts. These strategies are studied with respect to their application in sport (including learning from other high-performance contexts) and exercise (including learning from other health contexts). Attention will also be given to issues of ethical and professional conduct in the practice of sport and exercise psychology (with a particular focus on working with challenging and/or clinical populations).

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Demonstrated the ability to critically apply psychological theory and research to sport and exercise contexts.
• Demonstrated an advanced and critical understanding of the challenges of applied psychological practice in complex and dynamic delivery environments.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Engaged in the planning and design of an individualised psychological skills training programme and interactive document, informed by evidence and theory across sport and exercise psychology contexts.

Key Skills:

• Demonstrated advanced (i.e., effective, sensitive) communication skills.

• Staff-led content, including individual and group-based activities, will serve to provide general outlines of the applied concepts and theories, and to direct students to relevant literature;
• Interactive group activities (e.g., seminars/workshops/practical laboratory session) serve to develop a critical understanding and application of consultation techniques and skills, and to provide opportunities to critically reflect on research and its application;
• Independently, students will be required to invest time in directed reading, research activities, group-based activity preparation, and study tasks.
• Assessments are structured around real-world consultation activities in sport performance and physical activity and health contexts.
• One assessment involves the design of a psychological skills training programme based upon a specific athlete case study. Students will be asked to conduct a needs assessment of their chosen athlete case study and draw upon relevant literature to justify the psychological skills identified. Students will also be required to provide some personal reflections of professional practice.
• The other assessment requires students to develop an interactive document to disseminate information to the public regarding one aspect of applied exercise psychology. An accompanying justification statement providing an evidence-based rationale for the information included regarding physical activity is needed.

Students will have the opportunity to receive formative feedback throughout the module to develop their summative assessments. This will primarily occur during seminars where students will have the opportunity to present, debate, discuss and receive feedback from both peers and instructors about work related to their summative assessments. This will include seminar activities that teach students to critically design psychological skills training programmes and interactive reports.

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