The Efficacy of a Mental Skills Training Course for Collegiate Athletes.

Context: Psychological skills training improves performance in athletes. However, authors of few studies have looked at the efficacy and satisfaction of mental skills training programs for collegiate athletes.

Objective: To evaluate the satisfaction of collegiate athletes with a 6-session mental skills course and to assess changes in mental toughness and coping skills before and after the course.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Division I collegiate athletic teams.

Patients or other participants: Fifty-four Division I female athletes (mean age = 19.8 years) participated in the program, and 42 (77.7%) completed precourse assessments, which subsequent evaluations were matched to.

Main outcome measure(s): The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI; range, 0-84) and Mental Toughness Index (MTI; range, 8-56) assessed coping skills and mental toughness precourse, immediately postcourse, and 4 months postcourse. Satisfaction was assessed on a 10-point scale.

Results: For participants with paired precourse and immediately postcourse data (n = 37, 68.5%), MTI scores improved by a mean 2.6 points (95% CI = 1.1, 4.1; P = .001), and ACSI scores improved by a mean 4.0 points (95% CI = 0.6, 7.4; P = .02). At the 4-month follow-up (n = 25, 46.2%), no change was detected from precourse in mean MTI score (P = .72), but a significant increase of 3.4 points in mean ACSI (95% CI = 0.4, 6.4; P = .03) occurred. Overall satisfaction had a median score of 9/10 (interquartile range, 8-10) at postcourse, and 18 participants (48.6%) shared positive free-text comments regarding course delivery, content, and impact. No negative feedback was reported.

Conclusions: Mental toughness and coping skills scores significantly improved at postcourse assessment, with coping skills scores maintaining their effect at 4 months. The improvements identified spark the question of the potential impact of mental skills training programs when studied in larger athlete populations or over more sustained periods of time. Athletes reported being highly satisfied with course content and reported overall positive experiences.