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Mindfulness as a strategy to manage anxiety and maintain golf performance under pressure

The influence of mindfulness training on anxiety and golf performance under pressure

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ANZCTR
Registry ID
ACTRN12616001252404
Enrollment
136
Registered
2016-09-07
Start date
2016-09-22
Completion date
2017-11-08
Last updated
2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Mindfulness is the process of bringing deliberate attention to the present moment in a non-judgmental way (Kabat-Zinn, 1994), and has been argued by many to be a potential tool for improving sporting performance (Birrer, Rothlin, & Morgan, 2012; Gardner & Moore, 2012; John, Kumar, & Lal, 2012). A significant proportion of the research on mindfulness in sport has not looked at performance, but instead explored the influence of these approaches on presumed mediators of performance such as flow (Aherne, Moran, & Lonsdale, 2011) or self-confidence (Muangnapoe, 1998). Those that did look at performance tended to use case studies (e.g., Schwanhausser, 2009) or non-randomised designs (e.g., Hasker, 2011). These designs make it difficult to establish the efficacy of the intervention due to the number of confounding variable such at experimenter attention, the placebo effect, or different coaching staff. For the mindfulness component of this study, the primary objective is to explore the effectiveness of brief mindfulness program as a method of improving performance using a more internally valid, randomized and controlled design.

Interventions

Individually and via tablet or computer, participants will receive: - a short video (less than 5 minutes) normalising anxiety and providing information about acceptance of anxiety as an alternative to control - a section of text (2 paragraphs) linking acceptance and mindfulness to golf performance - a brief audio recording (less than 5 minutes) containing instructions for a mindfulness exercise: a Body Scan exercise from Gardner and Moore (2007) Materials will be developed by a Sport Psychologi

Individually and via tablet or computer, participants will receive: - a short video (less than 5 minutes) normalising anxiety and providing information about acceptance of anxiety as an alternative to control - a section of text (2 paragraphs) linking acceptance and mindfulness to golf performance - a brief audio recording (less than 5 minutes) containing instructions for a mindfulness exercise: a Body Scan exercise from Gardner and Moore (2007) Materials will be developed by a Sport Psychologist with more than 5 years experience in mindfulness and acceptance in sport, and reviewed by two senior researchers in the area. Participants will be exposed to the intervention in a controlled environment while wearing headphones, and be asked to practice mindfulness while the audio recording is playing. They will then be asked to complete the next round of putts while using the skill: "if you become aware of anxiety or doubt coming up, just notice that and focus on the next thing that needs to be done." The timeline and exposure are as follows: -Initial questionnaires part 1 (~5 minutes) -Putting measurement at Time 1 (practice putts; ~5 minutes) -Initial questionnaires part 2 (~5 minutes) -Putting measurement at Time 2 (baseline; ~5 minutes) -Randomise to either Mindfulness first or Control first (~15 minutes) -Induce pressure ('the following 2 rounds part of competition to earn up to $50') -Putting measurement at Time 3 (~5 minutes) -Crossover to either Mindfulness or Control (~15 minutes)** -Putting measurement at Time 4 (~5 minutes) **While it is not expected that mindfulness will wash out during this time, it is expected that T3 performance differences be eliminated at T4 once the other group receives mindfulness Adherence will be assessed by testing state mindfulness directly after the intervention.

Sponsors

Australian Catholic University
Lead SponsorUniversity

Study design

Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

Participants will be required to have a golf handicap registered with a club or with Golf Australia.

Exclusion criteria

None

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ANZCTR · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026