A Pilot Study of a Brief Compassion and ACT Based Sports Program on the Portuguese national female handball team (u18)

Introduction:Programs based on contextual-behavioural therapies have been developed for application in the sports context to promote attention to the present moment, and the acceptance of internal states in a non-judgmental and compassionate way during the last two decades.Objective:Analysethe results of a pilotsport-compassion contextual-behavioural program for female young athletes (Portuguese National U18 handball team) by assessingstate self-compassion and mindfulness on sport satisfaction, stress competition, coach leadership, and sport psychological skills measures before and after the intervention.Methodology: BCOMP.ACTProgramis a new semi-structured integrative intervention based onsport-compassion contextual-behavioural approach. The main four-session intervention taught the basics of mindfulness, compassion, and psychological flexibility. Participants completed validatedsurveys before and after the intervention. Results:After the intervention, participants reported improvement in mindfulness ability, t(18) = 5.20, p<.05, self-compassion, psychological competenciest(18)= -9.25, p<.05; coachsatisfactiont(18)= -3.45; p<.05; and decrease in competitionstresst(18)=8.98; p<.05; injuries fear t(18)= 12.63; p<.05. Discussion: in line with existing research, which has shown the emerging evidence and positive results that suggest that interventions based on contextual-behavioural therapies (eg.,mindfulness, compassion and psychological flexibility)can support and improve mental healthand performance inathletesand decrease toxic stress and injuriesConclusions:These findings indicate a potential benefit of short programsbased on this type of approach, as BCOMP.ACT, forimproving mindfulness, self-compassion, and psychologicalflexibility in teen’sfemale athletes.