A systematic mapping review on the use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with athletes

ABSTRACT

The expansion of evidence-based practices in the sports context, shows a promising growth in the use of REBT interventions with athletes. This evolution places us at the moment of gathering the research to identify where evidence is rich or wanting. We carried out a systematic mapping review to (a) classify the type of literature, (b) categorize current evidence, (c) identify trends and knowledge gaps in research, and (d) develop a critical appraisal of existing literature. Using the PICO tool, a search strategy was undertaken on the following databases: PsycINFO, Pubmed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library. As a result, 39 studies up to July 2020 were included for an in-depth analysis. The results indicated that the main corpus of evidence is found within journal articles and book chapters from European researchers, with adult male elite football (soccer) players as the target sample. We discuss the level of confidence readers can have in the research by offering a critical evaluation, and conclude by encouraging professionals to critically reflect on existing advances and knowledge gaps, so that they consider the evidence for their future work, as well as still unexplored populations, sport contexts and methods.

KEYWORDS:

• Beliefs
• rational
• REBT intervention
• mental health

Acknowledgments

The authors want to express their gratitude to Joan Pons, Marta Borrueco, and José Mejías from the Grup d'Estudis en Psicologia de l'Esport (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) for their help with this project. This work was supported by the Healthy Dual Careers project (RTI2018-095468-B-100) funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, and the ACTIVATICS project (DEP2014-52481-C3-1-R) funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya under the grant FI-DGR 2018 (2018FI_B_00485).