How to Improve Athletes' Return of Investment: Shortening Questionnaires in the Applied Sport Psychology Setting

Figures & data

Table 1 Items of the TOQS, Selection Criteria and the Three Items Selected for the Short Version

Item no.	“During the competition/game I had thoughts …”	Corrected item-scale correlation	Item M
1	… that I want to quit.	0.49	1.73
2	… about other activities (e.g., shopping, having tea, TV).	0.44	1.82
3	… about previous mistakes I have made.	0.44	3.24
4	… that I do not want to take part in this competition anymore.	0.66	1.78
5	… about what I'm going to do later in the day.	0.47	2.16
6	… that I'm having a bad day.	0.59	2.62
7	… that I want to get out of here.	0.64	1.74
8	… about personal worries (e.g., school, work, relations).	0.51	2.02
9	… that the conditions (weather, temperature, pitch, atmosphere) are no good.	0.40	2.70
10	… about stopping.	0.53	1.63
11	… about friends.	0.33	2.42
12	… that I am not going to achieve my goals today.	0.64	2.80
13	… that I am fed-up with it.	0.66	1.86
14	… about what I'm going to do when I'll go home.	0.53	2.02
15	… that I am not going to win this competition.	0.61	3.05
16	… that I cannot stand it anymore.	0.52	1.42
17	… that other competitors are better than me.	0.67	3.17

Note. Bold items represent the seven items that show the highest item-scale correlation (first selection criterion); the three selected items for the short version are in italics. Items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale.

Table 2 Descriptives, Reliabilities, Convergent, Divergent, and Criterion Validity of the Original TOQS and the Short Version

	TOQS Original	TOQS Short
M	2.24	2.59
SD	0.74	1.08
Cronbach's α	.89	.76
M interitem correlation	.32	.51
rtt^a	.82^**	.71^**
Concentration disruptions	.49^**	.46^**
Cognitive anxiety	.53^**	.63^**
Somatic anxiety	.29^**	.34^**
Rumination	.26^**	.32^**
Mindfulness (total)	−.46^**	−.50^**
Acting with awareness	−.46^**	−.47^**
Decentering and nonreactivity	−.34^**	−.38^**
Accepting and nonjudgmental orientation	−.25^**	−.34^**
Openness to experience	−.06	−.09
Performance under pressure	−.40^**	−.45^**

Note. r_tt = Retest-Reliability (4 months). TOQS = Thought Occurrence Questionnaire Sport.

^a Subsample (n = 67).

^** p < .01.