A Yearlong Psychological-Skills-Training Program With Chinese Athletes: A Narrative Exploration

Xiao Zhang & Penny Werthner

Sport Psychologist2025https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2024-0157article
ABDC B
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

Decades of research have illustrated the value of sport psychology interventions in high-performance sport settings. Research has also explored the effectiveness of sport psychology practitioners, the sport psychology practitioner–athlete working relationship, the role of reflective practice in ensuring effective learning, and the delivery of sport psychology services in various sport contexts. The purpose of the present paper was twofold: (a) to explore athletes’ perceptions of the effectiveness of a yearlong psychological-skills-training program in the context of the Chinese sport system and (b) to enable athletes to reflect and personally develop in sport and for their life outside of sport. Guided by a narrative methodology, pre- and postprogram interviews were conducted with 13 volleyball players on two Chinese provincial women’s volleyball teams. The four narratives illustrate the athletes’ experiences that speak to the effectiveness of the yearlong program and the issues faced that hindered that effectiveness.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2024-0157

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@article{xiao2025,
  title        = {{A Yearlong Psychological-Skills-Training Program With Chinese Athletes: A Narrative Exploration}},
  author       = {Xiao Zhang & Penny Werthner},
  journal      = {Sport Psychologist},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2024-0157},
}

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.