Resilience in sport: the development of a resilience program for young athletes

A focus on positive youth development (PYD) is becoming increasingly important as a way to build young peoples' strengths and in doing so, help prevent the incidence and prevalence of developmental and mental health concerns which continue to rise in our youth population. Resilience is argued to be a forerunner to PYD and is defined as a person's positive adaption to developmental tasks and life stressors that are based on individual factors and environmental/contextual factors. Sport affords a unique platform to target resilience skills in young people, because it provides young people with an opportunity to access role models and mentors outside of a school or home environment. The benefits of being involved with sport are many; however, there is also a negative side to sport participation. The absence of role modelling, or the promotion of antisocial behaviours can result in negative outcomes at worst, or an absence of positive outcomes at best. Influencing the outcomes from sport participation could mitigate these negative effects. This thesis extends on the current body of knowledge in the areas of resilience, positive youth development, and the train-the-trainer (TTT) model of delivery. This thesis provides an original contribution to knowledge in the area of youth resilience and sport-based resilience programs, through the development of a resilience program (i.e., RIS program) for a youth competitive sport environment. The RIS program was adapted from the FRIENDS for Life program developed by Dr. Paula Barrett. At the time of thesis commencement, there were no sports-based resilience programs that targeted factors associated with a transactionalecological theory of resilience, and that could be used with a youth sample in a competitive sport environment. This thesis focused on the development of a resilience program and TTT resources; consideration of the efficacy of applying a TTT model to program delivery; and then examined the efficacy of the RIS program in two environments (representative sport and community sport). Study 1 examined the RIS program delivered in a male state representative football environment. This study was the first evaluating the RIS program, and only one of a few programs cited in the literature that was developed to target resilience using a transactional-ecological theory in a competitive sport environment. The aim of Study 1 was to evaluate intervention effects immediately following delivery of the RIS program. Findings revealed significant increases for post-intervention resilience scores at the total scale level, but at the subscale level there were only significant increases for the relationship with caregivers subscale (the individual's perception of the psychological and physical care they receive from their caregiver). Study 2A and 2B examined the efficacy of the RIS program in a male state representative sport environment, using a TTT model. These studies were the first evaluating the RIS program using a TTT model, and only one of a few programs cited in the literature that was developed to target resilience in a competitive sport environment using a TTT model of delivery. Significant increases were only reported on two subscales (context and individual) with no significant increase on the caregivers subscale, or at the full-scale level. Feedback from the participants and the coaching team was used to improve the RIS program and the TTT resources. These studies highlighted the need to invest in processes and procedures that provided more support to the trainer, and targeted confidence in teaching resilience skills and knowledge/expertise. The suitability of the measures used in Studies 1 and 2B was also questioned, with indirect measures, such as selfefficacy and satisfaction with life, being proposed as being more closely aligned with the transactional-ecological theory of resilience. Study 3A evaluated the effectiveness of the revised RIS facilitator workshop in increasing the participants' general knowledge, positive attitude towards teaching resilience skills, and confidence in teaching resilience skills. This was the first study evaluating the effectiveness of the revised RIS facilitator workshop, and only one of a few studies that assesses the effectiveness of a TTT workshop. At the sample level, significant increases in general knowledge and confidence in teaching resilience skills were reported; however, there was no significant change in attitude towards teaching resilience skills, which remained stable across both time points. When the sample was split by reported resilience levels, significant increases in confidence in teaching resilience skills were only reported for participants who identified as having moderate-high/high levels of resilience. Study 3B examined the RIS program delivered in a community-rowing environment using a TTT model. This was the first time the RIS program had been trialled in a community-sport setting with a more ethnically diverse population, and with male and female athletes. Theoretically, this study shifted from measuring resilience directly to measuring resilience indirectly through secondary measures (i.e., self-efficacy, satisfaction with life, and perceived stress). These changes were supported by the literature, and provided an opportunity to extend current knowledge. A correlational analysis provided support for the hypothesis that perceived stress has an inverse relationship with self-efficacy and satisfaction with life. The results from this research suggested that elements of the RIS program influence participants differently, with rowing competition level, gender, and ethnicity/race influencing outcomes. Overall, the RIS program was found to be efficacious in the environments in which it was tested, with some limitations identified. Recommendations were made for future research directions for the current researcher and more broadly