Mood profiling in sports psychology

Abstract

Getting in the right mood for athletic competition is seen by many athletes and coaches as an important part of the process of mental preparation, and the success or failure to do so is often presented by athletes as an attribution to explain performance outcomes. This workshop will address the what, why and how of mood assessment and mood regulation for athletes, especially those preparing for international competition. The assessment of pre-competition mood, referred to as mood profiling, has a long history in the world of sport psychology. Mood profiling can assist processes such as acclimatisation, determining optimal training load, tapering, monitoring injured athletes, problem identification and also act as a catalyst for discussion. The mood regulation process involves assessment and interpretation of mood responses, followed by prescription of evidence-based interventions that, ideally, have been pre-learnt and practised. In particular, this workshop will explain how to administer, score, and interpret the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS: Terry, Lane, Lane, & Keohane, 1999; Terry, Lane, & Fogarty, 2003), a 24-item measure that assesses six dimensions of mood – anger, confusion, depression, fatigue, tension, vigour – that have been shown to be predictive of sport performance (Beedie, Terry, & Lane, 2000). The workshop will include examples of mood regulation strategies that have been shown to be effective among athletes (Terry, Dinsdale, Karageorghis, & Lane, 2006), many of which are very easy to implement. Workshop participants will be provided with a BRUMS User Guide.