Journal of Advances in Para-Sport Science
A peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal dedicated to the advancement of sports sciences for individuals with diverse abilities

Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) Program and Copping with Performance Anxiety: A case study

Authors

Meisam Savardelavar 1
Frank Jing-Horng Lu 2

1 Assistant Professor, Sport Sciences Department, Zand Institute of Higher Education

2 Professor, Ph.D., Graduate Institute of Sport Coaching Science, Chinese Culture University, Vice President, Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology (ASPASP)

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to research the subjective experiences of an athlete during practice match competitions and to examine the potential usefulness of an adapted MAC intervention in addressing the emotional difficulties of the athlete. We investigated the usefulness of a 12-session MAC program altered for educational purposes and presented data as a case study. The case study suggested that the athlete experienced a multitude of anxiety while practicing match competitions; the athlete typically avoided these emotional difficulties and engaged in avoidant behaviors; an adapted MAC approach for educational purposes could be helpful to help the athletes accept private events, commit to performance-related behaviors, and engage more frequently to performance under pressure. More could be done to address the needs of athletes experiencing performance anxiety beyond the structure of our 12-session educational intervention. We concluded that the MAC-based intervention, to a certain extent, educated the athlete about how to meet the challenges of performance difficulties, commit to values-driven behavior, and exhibit behaviors that would potentially permit optimal performance.

Keywords

MAC
performance anxiety
Mindfulness
Alavizadeh, S. M., Gharamaleki, N. S., Mami, S., Mohammadzadeh, J., & Ahmadi, V. (2020). The comparison impact of Metacognitive Therapy-Based Group Intervention and Group Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapy on Psychophysiological Signs of Professional Soccer Players in the U-19 League in Tehran. Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 22(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.5812/zjrms.92514

Alavizadeh, S. M., Sobhi Gharamaleki, N., Mami, S., Mohammadzadeh, J., & Ahmadi, V. (2021). The comparison of group Metacognitive Therapy and group Acceptance Based Behavioral Therapy on Competitive Anxiety of Soccer Athletes in Tehran. Iranian Journal of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, 1(1), 9-21. https://dx.doi.org/10.22034/ijmbsp.2021.132843

Arch, J. J., & Craske, M. G. (2008). Acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: Different treatments, similar mechanisms. Clinical psychology: Science and practice, 15(4), 263-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.2008.00137.x

Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84(4): 822-48. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822

Cathcart, S., McGregor, M., & Groundwater, E. (2014). Mindfulness and flow in elite athletes. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 8(2): 119-41. https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2014-0018

De Petrillo, L. A., Kaufman, K. A., Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (2009). Mindfulness for long-distance runners: an open trial using Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement (MSPE). Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 3(4): 357-76.

Dehghani, M., Saf, A. D., Vosoughi, A., Tebbenouri, G., & Zarnagh, H. G. (2018). Effectiveness of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment-based approach on athletic performance and sports competition anxiety: A randomized clinical trial. Electronic physician, 10(5): 6749-55. https://doi.10.19082/6749

Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2004). A mindfulness-acceptance-commitment-based approach to athletic performance enhancement: Theoretical considerations. Behavior therapy, 35(4), 707-723. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(04)80016-9

Gardner, F. L., & Moore, Z. E. (2017). Mindfulness-based and acceptance-based interventions in sport and performance contexts. Current opinion in psychology, 16, 180-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.06.001

Gross, M., Moore, Z. E., Gardner, F. L., Wolanin, A. T., Pess, R., & Marks, D. R. (2018). An empirical examination comparing the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment approach and psychological skills training for the mental health and sport performance of female student-athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 16(4): 431-451. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2016.1250802

Josefsson, T., Ivarsson, A., Gustafsson, H., Stenling, A., Lindwall, M., Tornberg, R., & Böröy, J. (2019). Effects of mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) on sport-specific dispositional mindfulness, emotion regulation, and self-rated athletic performance in a multiple-sport population: an RCT study. Mindfulness, 10(8), 1518-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01098-7

Josefsson, T., Tornberg, R., Gustafsson, H., & Ivarsson, A. (2020). Practitioners’ reflections on working with the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach in team sport settings. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 11(2): 92-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2018.1549641

MacKillop, J., & Anderson, E. J. (2007). Further psychometric validation of the mindful attention awareness scale (MAAS). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 29(4): 289-293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-007-9045-1

Mahoney, J., & Hanrahan, S. J. (2011). A brief educational intervention using acceptance and commitment therapy: Four injured athletes’ experiences. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 5(3), 252-73. https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.5.3.252

Mohebi, M., Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Zarei, S., Gharayagh Zandi, H., & Brand, S. (2021). Examining the Effects of Mindfulness–Acceptance–Commitment Training on Self-Compassion and Grit among Elite Female Athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1): 134. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010134

Moore, Z. E. (2009). Theoretical and empirical developments of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach to performance enhancement. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 3(4): 291-302.

Mostafayi Far E. Psychometric properties of persian version of the revised competitive state anxiety inventory-2. Sport Psychology Studies. 2016; 5(16): 35-54. [Persian]

Nooripour, R., Ghanbari, N., Hoseinian, S., Vakili, Y., & Dobkins, K. (2021). Psychometric Validation of the Farsi Version of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in a Sample of Iranian Students in the USA. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12: 1-1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00617-9

Schwanhausser, L. (2009). Application of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) protocol with an adolescent springboard diver. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 3(4), 377-95. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010134
Journal of Advances in Para-Sport Science
Volume 3, Issue 1
February 2023
Pages 350-358