The Effects of a Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) Group Counselling Program on Competitive Anxiety in Turkish Student-Athletes

The purpose of this study was to develop a Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) based group counselling program for athletes, and then to experimentally test the effects of the program on the competitive anxiety and irrational beliefs of non-western student-athletes. The effects of the REBT based program was examined using a 2 × 2 controlled quasi-experimental group design. 22 student-athletes participated in the study (11 in the experimental group and 11 in the control group). The Sport Anxiety Scale-2 was used to assess athlete competitive anxiety. To test the effects of program, descriptive statistics were calculated, and Bayesian repeated-measures ANOVA were conducted. Thematic analysis is used to analyse qualitative data. Data revealed significant decreases from pre- to post- in irrational beliefs and competitive anxiety in the REBT group compared to the control group. The findings indicated a positive effect of the REBT based program on the student-athletes’ competitive anxiety levels