Targeting Stress Mindset and Irrational Beliefs to Improve Performance and Reduce Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Academy Athletes

This study aimed to investigate whether a multimodal cognitive behavioural intervention could enhance academy athletes’ stress mindset, self-compassion, and performance, as well as reduce irrational beliefs and symptoms of anxiety and depression. We delivered 6 × 1 h group workshops at five different football (n = 4) and rugby (n = 1) academies in the United Kingdom. We hypothesised that there would be increases in stress mindset, self-compassion, and perceived performance coupled with decreases in irrational beliefs, anxiety, and depressive symptoms as a result of the intervention, and that such changes would remain evident one month later. Sixty-seven participants (n = 59 males, n = 8 females, Mage = 17.03 years, SD = 2.55) completed assessment at baseline, post-intervention, and at a follow-up. Through paired-sample t-tests, our results demonstrated support for the hypotheses with principally small effect sizes. Findings offer support for the use of a multimodal cognitive behavioural programme in academy athletes.