Effects of a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Intervention on the Rowers of the Junior Spain National Team

A quasi-experimental study was carried out with the complete team of the Spanish youth team of Rowing (n = 16). The setting where the intervention took place was during the concentration prior to the 2020 European Rowing Junior Championships (held in Belgrade between September 25th and 27th). The athletes were concentrated without leaving their accommodation during the eleven weeks prior to the championship. A total of 27 rowers started the concentration, of whom 16 were eventually selected to participate in the championship.

A mental training program was carried out with the following objectives: (a) to learn to manage their level of activation; (b) to train their ability to concentrate; (c) to optimize their self-confidence; (d) to learn to compete by improving their racing routines; and (d) to integrate mental training into their day-to-day life.

The athletes worked in small groups of four athletes. In addition, the days that the psychologist attended the concentration, he was also present in the training sessions, with the aim of giving them feedback on the strategies acquired. The psychologist was present in various phases throughout the concentration and there was also a constant online monitoring. Each week, a sheet of tasks to be executed and a diary were provided to verify compliance with the guidelines.

The initial assessment was carried out on the second day of the concentration after the explanation of the intervention to be carried out. The final assessment was carried out the week before the championship (after finishing the 10th week of intervention).

Psychological variables were assessed using the Psychological Characteristics Related to Sport Performance Questionnaire (CPRD) (Gimeno, Buceta, & Perez-Llantada, 2007), based on the Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports (PSIS) (Mahoney, Gabriel, & Perkins, 1987). The questionnaire consists of 55 items graded in a 5-option Likert scale (from totally disagree to totally agree). It also includes a response option "I do not understand" to avoid missing answers. CPRD includes five subscales: Stress Control (SC), Influence of Performance Evaluation (IPE), Motivation (M), Team Cohesion (TC), and Mental Skills (MS), showing acceptable values of internal consistency for the total scale (α = 0.85) and for most of the subscales (αSC = 0.88; αIPE = 0.72; αM = 0.67; αTC = 0.78; αMS = 0.34) (Gimeno, & Pérez-Llanta, 2010).