TY - JOUR

T1 - Practitioners’ Narratives Regarding Active Ingredients in Service Delivery: Collaboration Based Problem Solving

AU - Tod, David

AU - Hardy, James

AU - Lavallee, David

AU - Eubank, Martin

AU - Ronkainen, Noora

PY - 2019/7

Y1 - 2019/7

N2 - Objectives: We examined experienced practitioners’ (N = 21) stories about two of their athlete consultancies, with a focus on their descriptions of the active ingredients involved in service delivery. Design: Qualitative interviews informed by narrative theory. Method: Consultants (9 females and 12 males, aged 27-46) with at least four years of professional experience discussed two client consultancies during open-ended narrative interviews. Data analysis began with an examination of the narrative structure of the practitioners’ stories, followed by an investigation of the narrative themes. Results: The structure of the participants’ stories reflected a collaborative expert problem-solving narrative, in which they described working as experts in concert with athletes who needed help in solving their problems. Narrative themes included the influence of relationships, client allegiance, and active athlete engagement towards service delivery outcomes. An additional theme involved a constrained freedom in which contextual factors influenced service delivery. Conclusions: Results had strong parallels with clinical and counselling psychology research, such as the Rogerian narrative to service delivery. Findings also reflected a self-promotional narrative that surrounds psychological service delivery. Applied implications include the value of self-awareness, developing authenticity, and learning to become part of the sport organization’s culture.

AB - Objectives: We examined experienced practitioners’ (N = 21) stories about two of their athlete consultancies, with a focus on their descriptions of the active ingredients involved in service delivery. Design: Qualitative interviews informed by narrative theory. Method: Consultants (9 females and 12 males, aged 27-46) with at least four years of professional experience discussed two client consultancies during open-ended narrative interviews. Data analysis began with an examination of the narrative structure of the practitioners’ stories, followed by an investigation of the narrative themes. Results: The structure of the participants’ stories reflected a collaborative expert problem-solving narrative, in which they described working as experts in concert with athletes who needed help in solving their problems. Narrative themes included the influence of relationships, client allegiance, and active athlete engagement towards service delivery outcomes. An additional theme involved a constrained freedom in which contextual factors influenced service delivery. Conclusions: Results had strong parallels with clinical and counselling psychology research, such as the Rogerian narrative to service delivery. Findings also reflected a self-promotional narrative that surrounds psychological service delivery. Applied implications include the value of self-awareness, developing authenticity, and learning to become part of the sport organization’s culture.

KW - Service Delivery

KW - Congruence

KW - Theoretical allegiance

KW - Applied sport psychology

KW - Person-centred therapy

U2 - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.04.009

DO - 10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.04.009

M3 - Article

VL - 43

SP - 350

EP - 358

JO - Psychology of Sport and Exercise

JF - Psychology of Sport and Exercise

SN - 1469-0292

IS - July

ER -