Behavior Change in Applied Sport Psychology: The Use of Processes of Change in Psychological Training for Athletes

Abstract

The results of previous research (e.g. Leffingwell, Rider, & Williams, 2001; Massey, Meyer, & Hatch, 2011; Zizzi & Perna, 2003) have led scholars to conclude that the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) may be an appropriate paradigm to study readiness to change in sport psychology settings. However, processes of change - a critical element to the TTM - have yet to be studied or measured in an athlete population. As such, the purpose of the current investigation was to initially develop and examine a measure of the processes of change for use in applied sport psychology settings. Informed by relevant literature, an initial pool of 114 items was generated. Content validity was established by consensus agreement of three judges with expertise in elite sport performance. In an effort to test the psychometric properties of the measure, data were then collected from two independent samples. Participants included National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I athletes, professional athletes, and athletes training for or competing in the Olympic Games (n1 = 201; n2 = 358). In sample one, exploratory structural equation modeling yielded a 7-factor solution (χ2 = 117.719, p = .003; CFI = .973; TLI = .942; RMSEA = .043). In sample two, a CFA was used to cross-validate the model structure found in sample one (χ2 = 372.588, p